Governors on Monday described as unpatriotic the insistence of the Nigeria Labour Congress that thirty thousand naira is the least it would accept as the national minimum wage. They added that it is an attempt to hold President Muhammadu Buhari and the nation to ransom.
The governors, however, said they would have loved to pay the thirty thousand-naira minimum wage being demanded by workers, but regretted that paucity of funds would not allow them to do so. Instead, the Head, Media and Public Affairs of NGF, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, said states should pay a minimum wage of N22,500 but any governor who can pay more than this is free to do so.
They also said that they are not under any obligation to open their books to the NLC, but had been doing so to show transparency in the running of affairs of their states.
Bello-Barkindo said that the governors had, in their pursuit of the understanding of the union, done so, not once, but several times over, with a view to letting the NLC know that what they were asking for is neither realistic nor sustainable.
The General Secretary of the NLC, Peter Ozo-Eson, however said that the NGF is not sincere in its claim. He stressed that the NGF had resorted to employing diversionary tactic because at no time did the governors open their books to the NLC or the tripartite committee.
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