By Hope-Feyisayo Temitope
Following the negotiations between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Federal Government over the proposed minimum wage, possible data has shown that 28 states may be unable to pay the N62,000 the current administration is proposing.
The organised labour insists on a minimum wage of N250,000 at all levels, while the FG insists to increase the payment from N30,000 to N62,000.
However, the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), said most of the states are not buoyant to pay the proposed wage of N62,000, an opinion which the NLC and TUC say is not well-founded.
Moreso, data sourced from the 2023 budget implementation report for states, SFTAS annual performance assessment reports, the National Bureau of Statistics and BudgIT, shows that each state would have to negotiate its own minimum wage based on its economic realities. A blanket minimum wage is not feasible because of the horizontal fiscal imbalance among the 36 states.
Data shows that the total actual revenue for the 36 states for 2023 was N7.85 trillion and this figure includes revenue from the Federation Account Administration Committee (FAAC), Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), aids and grants.
However, 15% of this amount was earned by Lagos alone, while 51% of the cumulative revenue went to the top 8 states – Lagos, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Oyo, Ogun and Ondo. As it is, only these eight states may be able to afford to pay N62,000.
