N18k Minimum Wage: Nigerian Governors May Downsize Workers

Nigerian governors have indicated that they can no longer afford to pay the N18,000  minimum wage and that they either have to embark on massive retrenchments or cut down on the minimum wage.

Abdulaziz Yari, chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, said on Thursday that the present economic realities mean it has become “difficult” for states to continue to foot the wage bill.

“So, if it continues like that, definitely, we will find it difficult to continue. We have to sit down with the labour and see how we can review, either continue or downsize or what we are going to do.

“We want to find a solution because we have to be realistic that we have so many things to touch. There is infrastructure deficit, there is need for security, there are other things like social lives of our people and nation as a state.

“We are telling the public that we are planning to sit down with the president and his team and the state governors as a team and the experts to come out with the way forward and how we are going to handle the poor state of the economy in the country.

“But what we have on ground now will not be realistic if it continues the way it is without having other sources from the economy and still relying on oil that is being sold for $118 dollar per barrel and now down to $41 and think that we can continue behaving or misbehaving the way we are doing, if there is anything like that.

“Therefore, we are saying that we should tighten our belts. Something definitely, we should sit down and come out of it to find a way we are going to do it realistically or otherwise.”

Source: Nigerian Bulletin