In an apparent bid to stop the coming Labour Strike on November 6 over the new minimum wage being demanded for by Organised Labour, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo met with several state governors and ministers to fashion out a way to solve the issue.
The meeting which lasted for several hours behind closed doors however ended in a deadlock as no meaningful resolutions where reached regarding the minimum wage.
This was revealed by the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Governor Abdul’Aizz Yari (Zamfara), while granting an audience to State House correspondents after the meeting.
Governor Yari said although the governors were willing to pay the N30,000 new minimum wage demanded by workers, they lacked the capacity to do so.
The Chairman of the Governor’s Forum further disclosed that an emergency meeting of the Governors’ Forum would be convened on Tuesday.
Discussions at the meeting, according to him, will focus on finalizing agreements on an exact minimum wage the states are willing to pay their workers.
Others present at the meeting also included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, and the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, were also present.
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The meeting also had in attendance Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, as well as his Plateau and Kebbi counterparts, Simon Lalong and Atiku Bagudu.
The Federal Government had convened the meeting one week after the organised labour threatened to embark on a fresh nationwide strike on November 6 following disputes over the exact amount to be set as a new national minimum wage.
The labour body had disclosed its next move in a statement jointly signed by the leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on October 21.
It explained that the decision was necessary following what it described as the government’s unwillingness to implement a new minimum wage for workers in the country.
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