Don’t Approve Minimum Wage States Cannot Pay, Yari Warns National Assembly

*Says only Lagos can pay N30,000 minimum wage

Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Yari, has warned National Assembly against passing a new National Minimum Wage that would be difficult for states to pay.

Yari, who is the Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum, issued the warning in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of the public hearing on new National Minimum Wage bill on Monday in Abuja.

News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) recalls that the organised labour leaders had rejected the approved N27,000 by the national council of states, demanding N30,000 as a new minimum wage.

Reacting to the demand of organised labour, Yari said that the demand for N30,000 as the new minimum was not realistic.

According to him, only Lagos State can afford that N30,000 as minimum wage, not even Rivers can pay that much.

He said that leaders must tell themselves the truth and not pass figures that would be difficult to implement in the field.

“It is easy to call figures, but when it comes to implementing in the field, it becomes a problem.

“Only Lagos can afford the N30,000 as minimum wage, not even Rivers can afford to pay that much,” he said. (NAN)