Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has criticized the 36 state governors’ assertion of incapacity to pay N60,000 as a minimum wage to civil servants.
According to SERAP, the governors should “redirect funds from life pensions for ex-governors and ‘security votes’ to pay Nigerian workers a real living wage.”
The organisation’s call follows the recent statement by the governors, represented by Halimah Salihu-Ahmed, spokesperson for the Nigerian Governors Forum, stating that the initially proposed N60,000 minimum wage is “unsustainable.”
Last week, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) met with federal government representatives at the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SGF), George Akume.
While the federal government signed an agreement with Joe Ajaero of the NLC and Festus Osifo of the TUC for a wage higher than N60,000, leading to a five-day suspension of the nationwide strike, the governors warned that many state governments would exhaust their allocations solely on salaries if the proposed minimum wage is approved.
Meanwhile, as the deadline for the strike’s resumption approaches, the federal government has raised its offer to N62,000, while organised labour has adjusted its demand from N494,000 to N250,000.
