The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Joe Ajaero, has stated that most of the governors in the 37-member tripartite committee on minimum wage review are not paying the current wage of N30,000 to civil servants in their states.
On Tuesday, Vice President Kashim Shettima had inaugurated the presidential committee, which has Goni Bukar Aji as the chairman.
Membership of the committee cuts across the federal government, state government, private sector, and organised labour.
The committee is to recommend a new national minimum wage for the country.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV on Tuesday, Mr Ajaero said: “Most of the governors in the minimum wage committee are those who are not paying the minimum wage or paying them in breaches.
“The governors who are in full compliance with the minimum wage are not adequately represented, so whatever made the Federal Government bring in those who are not compliant or compliant in breaches to form the bulk of the membership of the minimum wage committee from the state government that will unfold with time,” he said.
When asked to name certain states that have failed to implement the minimum wage, Mr Ajaero said: “A state like Zamfara, I don’t know how much Borno and Bauchi are paying, there is a minimum wage law which criminalises the non-compliance of the minimum wage.
”And the Nigerian state has not tried to enforce these laws, others are just enforcing them in breaches. Take Anambra State, for instance, Anambra State pays N30,000 for the least paid. I challenge anybody from Anambra to prove that even a permanent secretary is earning up to N170,000 or N180,000,” he said.
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