The 36 state governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF have described the N60,000 minimum wage proposal as unsustainable, saying it will force some states into borrowing to pay workers every month.
A statement by the NGF acting Director on Media and Public Affairs, Halimah Salihu Ahmed said the governors cannot afford to spend all their Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC allocations on just paying salaries with nothing left for development purposes.
The NGF also cautioned negotiating parties to consider the fact that the minimum wage negotiations also involve consequential adjustments across all cadres, including pensioners, warning that any agreement to be signed should be sustainable and realistic.
The federal government, after a six-hour meeting with the leadership of organised labour in Abuja on Monday night, had expressed commitment to raise the N60,000 offered as the minimum wage, with labour granting a week window for the new wage to be aligned.
