Only eight states can afford new minimum wage -Amosun

Ibikunle Amosun, governor of Ogun, says only eight states can afford to pay the revised minimum wage.

Speaking at a town hall meeting that held on Thursday at the June 12 Cultural Centre in Abeokuta, Amosun said governors are struggling to pay salaries with the current N18,000 minimum wage.

“The situation now is like an old woman with load walking gently, if she now adds more loads, she won’t walk at all. With N18,000 minimum wage, as we speak in this country, only seven or eight governors are able to pay full salaries,” he said.

“We are not magicians or miracle workers that will turn things around, we only make to do with what we have, nobody has the money.”

Organised labour had said it would embark on a nationwide strike if the federal government does not implement N30,000 as the new minimum wage.

The N30,000 is lower than their initial N50,000 demand.

Chris Ngige, minister of labour and the tripartite committee on minimum wage have said the federal government can afford N24,000.