The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige has said that all states of the federation and the FCT would abide by the new minimum wage, which is already in the works.
Some states have been demanding that they be allowed to negotiate with their workers on the minimum wage to enable them come up with what they could afford to pay.
Ngige who spoke after flagging off the proposed skills acquisition center being constructed at Ifitedunu in Dunukofia local government area of Anambra State at the weekend, said the minimum wage is a national matter and as such, only the federal government could legislate on it as provided in the Nigerian constitution.
The former Anambra Governor said the tripartite committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to work out a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers had already swung into action.
He said, “We had our inaugural meeting on December 14 and we did a framework for our work. We will finish our job before the third quarter of this year, but we may finish earlier and then submit its report to enable the Federal Government Issue a white paper and subsequently transmit the content to the National Assembly.
“That is why the President is not over flogging the issue, but he is monitoring the work of the committee. One thing that is clear is that the states will abide by whatever will be the outcome of the work of the committee because they (governors) have nominees there.
“The Governors’ Forum is represented in the committee and the Federal Government component is represented by five Ministers and the Head of Service of the Federation. It will therefore be against the spirit of the constitution for the states to have their own minimum wage.”
The ex-lawmaker insisted that the national minimum wage would be the baseline, adding that states that could afford it could pay more, but not below the national minimum wage.
“We will fix a minimum wage, but states can pay more than that. I give you an example, today minimum wage is N18,500, but Adams Oshiomhole was paying N25,000 before he left office.
“Minimum wage is just to set the baseline, but states can pay more.”
On what Nigerians should expect as the minimum wage, Ngige said he would not reveal that , but that he would rather table it before the committee and back it up “with productivity indices.”
He said one of the cardinal principle of negotiating wages as stipulated by the International Labour Organisation was ability to pay.
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