Governors not against new minimum wage, Sule clarifies

NState Governor, Abdullahi Sule, yesterday, clarified that his colleagues are not opposed to a new minimum wage for workers.

He also dismissed insinuations that the state helmsmen are not cooperating with the Federal Government on the issue.

The clarification may not be unconnected with concerns in some quarters over the preparedness of many states to pay the new wage being expected from the tripartite committee raised government.

The fears were heightened a couple of days back when reports emerged that some governors became unsettled by the decision of their Edo colleague, Godwin Obaseki, who raised the minimum wage in his state to 70,000.

But fielding questions from newsmen after a meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima in Abuja, Sule, who further explained that the comments were his, stated that the security situation in

Nasarawa was part of the agenda during the closeddoor parley.

The governor, while stating that his state has been paying the N30,000 minimum wage since 2019, added that he is unaware of any administration not toeing the line.

He reaffirmed: “We’re concerned about the welfare of the workers. We’re paying some special allowances called hazard allowance, even to our medical workers, as I’m talking to you right now. So, I don’t think governors have any problem with the payment of minimum wage. I don’t speak for the governors. Our chairman, the Governor of Kwara, actually speaks for the governors, and he will do that at the right time.

“But, it is incorrect to say that governors are not interested or are not cooperating. What the governors keep saying is that there is a committee established by the Federal Government to work on the minimum wage.

“We are waiting for the outcome of that committee.”