By Williams Anuku
 |
| Dr Kayode Fayemi, Governor Ekiti State |
Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has stressed the need for the Federal Government to address the current revenue allocation formula to enable state governments pay the new minimum wage being requested by workers.
Dr
Fayemi stated this when he received the President of the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who paid him a courtesy visit in his
office, in Ado-Ekiti on Friday.
The
Governor, who explained that the N30,000 minimum wage was not a comfortable
living wage for workers, said he was convinced that governors would pay if the
Federal Government create the enabling environment for them to do so.
He,
however suggested a collective approach by labour leadership, the government
and the general public.
The
NLC President, who met with the Governor together with some national and Ekiti
State labour union leaders, had solicited the cooperation of all governors in
the payment of the N30,000 minimum wage, adding that all states should be able
to afford it.
Fayemi
said the issue of affordability was key, adding that Ekiti had always been
paying above national minimum wage as the state is currently paying N19, 350 as
against the N18,000 official minimum wage.
He
however added that for Ekiti State to pay the new N30,000 minimum wage, it
would need an additional N2 billion in addition to the current wage bill of
N2.6 billion, totalling N4.6billion. This, he said is the case in many other
states.
Ekiti
earns averagely N3billion federal allocation monthly.
According
to him, "I am not holding briefs for the governors because I am the
youngest among them, having only come to office barely a month ago, so I cannot
speak on what has transpired in your negotiation in the course of this
tripartite committee, but I did not blame governors who believe that N30,000 is
luxury salary for workers.
“There
is no doubt in my mind that all the governor know that that cannot be a
comfortable living wage and I have not had any single governor argue otherwise.
If I were to put myself in the shoes of my colleagues, giving the fact on
ground in Ekiti, I think it’s always the question of affordability, ability to
pay.
"As
long as we have a revenue allocation formula that we have in the country, even
in states where you have willing partners and comrades that are not going to
contend the N30,000 figure, if nothing is done about current revenue
allocation, this will be tough on states.
“In
fact, this N30,000 is not even enough, Mr President, I don’t know anyone who
can really live comfortably on N30,000 let alone the N18,000 we are currently
paying.
"I
think we need a collective approach to this beyond the game of numbers. The
workers are very critical components to the productive base of our country,
because it is the human capital and it has to be motivated human
capital, it has to be an enthusiastic human capital that can deliver the goods
to the populace.
"You
are in a state that pays minimum wage of N19,350 which is above the current…
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