Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF), Governor of Gombe State, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, says many governors cannot pay the new national minimum wage of N70,000.
He made this known at a meeting with organised labour, civil society organisations, and traders’ associations at the Government House in Gombe.
Governor Yahaya said allocation from the federation account is limited to make it impossible to implement the new minimum wage in the states.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had on Monday signed the new national minimum wage, as part of measures to curtail the proposed nationwide protest over the current economic hardship.
He said it will be difficult for him to pay the N70,000 minimum wage, adding that it could be the same with many of his colleagues facing similar predicament.
“Even the previous minimum wage of N30,000 was a struggle for many state governments to implement, not to talk of the N70,000 amid the current economic situation, which makes it even more difficult,” he said.
Governor Yahaya said his state got only N2 billion out of N5 billion palliative the Federal Government released to states last year.
He said the fuel subsidy removal has exacerbated the current hardship, a decision initiated by former President Muhamma
