The Federal Executive Council delayed a decision on the new minimum wage to allow further consultations among federal and state governments, the private sector, and labor unions.

President Tinubu recently met with governors at the National Economic Council, but the meeting did not address the minimum wage issue.

Meanwhile, the Southern Governors’ Forum suggested that each state negotiate its own minimum wage with its workforce.

Labor unions criticized the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) for their dominant role in wage negotiations. An NGF report highlighted that implementing a new minimum wage could bankrupt states due to increased recurrent expenditures.

The report revealed that several states were already in deficit in 2022 and predicted that a 50% rise in recurrent expenditure would push 13 states into deficit.

The tripartite committee recommended a minimum wage of N62,000, a significant increase from the current N30,000. Only a few states, such as Anambra, Bayelsa, and Lagos, might maintain positive net revenues with this increase.

The NGF report also detailed the financial status of various states, highlighting high recurrent expenditures and low internally generated revenues (IGR) in many states. For instance, Lagos had the highest total revenue in 2022, while Kebbi had the lowest. Some states, like Zamfara and Taraba, recorded particularly poor IGR.

Reports indicate that 15 states have not implemented the current N30,000 minimum wage, despite its legal status since 2019.

However, all 36 states significantly increased their personnel costs and overall revenue from 2021 to 2022, according to BudgiT’s ‘The States of States Report 2023’.

The governors said this in a statement on Wednesday while condemning the attack, describing the incident as a horror dream.

The statement was signed by NGf Chairman, and Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi.

“The Kaduna -Abuja train attack on Monday night is a horror dream orchestrated by the wicked merchants of death that we must all wake up from to address.

“This is one attack too many. It must stop. First, as leaders, we owe the victims and their relations an apology as these unwarranted acts of violence are becoming too regular and they basically question our collective capacity to govern.”

They prayed that God would grant those that lost their lives eternal peace and wish those that were injured speedy recovery to resume their lives and put their heartless aggressors to shame.

The governors added that “if the intention of the murderers is to disrupt the peaceful coexistence of Nigerians, they will not succeed and when eventually total peace returns to the country, they will surely either be lifeless or excluded. I can assure you that this is an ugly phase in our national experience. It will certainly pass.”

They also expressed condolences to Nigerians, the Kaduna State government, and the people of Kaduna State.

They applauded the Nigerian security agents for their efforts in coming to the rescue of the victims of the attack.

They added that those behind the attack will certainly not take over Nigeria.

“Their violent demeanour will not result in anything positive instead it will confine them to an uncomfortable life in the jungle until the long arm of the law catches up with them.”

The NGF, however urged those in authority not to delay anymore in installing all necessary safeguards to forestall future acts of banditry on our rail tracks, roads, ports, and borders.

They made their position known in a communique issued at the end of the 32nd Teleconference meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which was held on Wednesday.

“The Forum is in full support of the unbundling and commercialisation of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) but concerned with the proposed ownership structure of the NNPC which places ownership on the Federal Government,” the communique read in part.

This proposal, the governors argued ignores the fact that the NNPC is owned by the three tiers of government.

Rather than place the ownership of the NNPC on the Federal Government, the Governors’ forum recommended that the new entity (NNPC Limited) proposed in the PIB should be owned by a vehicle that holds the interest of the three tiers of government.

“For now, the institution that is positioned to carry out this mandate is the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA),” the NGF said.

They plan to take up the requested amendment to the PIB as well as the proposed three percent share of oil revenue to host communities and 30 percent share of profit for the exploration of oil and gas in the basins with the relevant channels including the National Assembly and the National Economic Council (NEC) subsequently.

They insisted that the vaccine was safe for use, stressing that no side effects had been reported by those who have so far received the jabs in Nigeria.

The Governors forum stated this during their meeting on Wednesday following concerns about the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the country, which had been suspended in some countries.

The meeting which was presided over by the NFG Chairman and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, received a brief on the status of the vaccine roll out from its COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group (CTAG) led by renowned virologist, Professor Oyewale Tomori.

In its briefing, CTAG recommended that Nigeria should continue to vaccinate all eligible persons with the AstraZeneca vaccine, in line with the latest recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The governors, in their response, reiterated their belief in the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine and agreed to continuously encourage uptake of the vaccines by all eligible persons in their states.

They, however, called on the people to report any adverse events noticed after taking the vaccine jabs.

This was disclosed in a statement released on Monday morning and signed by the NGF spokesman Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo.

According to the statement, the Governors forum said it was alarmed by the intensity of the second wave of the global pandemic and the country’s “tardy commencement of inoculation”.

Recall that in the past few weeks Nigeria has recorded an increase in the number of COVID-19 infection across the nation both in cases and fatalities.

As at Sunday night the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reported 1,444 new cases and 15 deaths.

According to the statement, the NGF meeting will be the first for the Governors in 2021 and will be conducted virtually as usual since the pandemic started.

Part of the statement reads: “Alarmed by the intensity of the second wave of the Covid19 pandemic, and Nigeria’s tardy commencement of inoculation that is sweeping through countries globally, the 36 governors of the federation may finally come up with a definitive pronouncement, as they will be meeting on Wednesday January 20 to find the way forward for the country.

“The meeting which will be the first this year, 2021, by the governors, will as usual, be virtual, in conformity with the Covid19 protocols. It is the 23rd of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum teleconferences. The meeting commences at 2pm prompt but Governors are expected to start logging on from 1pm.

“The Governors’ PTF Committee, headed by Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, which is charged with the responsibility of liaising between the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid19 and the Governors’ Forum, will brief the Forum on what it needs to know on the vaccines and the way forward.

“Governor Okowa is also expected to give a panoramic view of the second wave of the pandemic.

“The Chairman of the Forum, and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr John Kayode Fayemi will brief the Forum on his meeting with the President as well as update the Forum on all pending matters that have remained inconclusive, flowing from the previous year’s meetings.”

Recall that the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) had endorsed two proposals to borrow N17 trillion from the pension fund for acceleration of infrastructural Development.

The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, made this known at the 47th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) on Thursday in Abuja.

Wabba also vowed to mobilise workers nationwide to protest any move to borrow from the money, adding that it was the retirement benefit of workers.

“Pension money isn’t for borrowing. Pension money is the retirement savings of workers,” Wabba said.

“It can’t be borrowed, you must go through the bank, and in this case, you must go through the PFAs and their guidelines; even the guidelines they want to play down, but to the glory of God, the board of PenCom has been constituted.

“I stand here to represent all of you. We’re not going to agree; less than five per cent of the states are keying into the contributory pension.

“Yet they want to borrow the money. The bulk of the money is from Federal Government workers and private-sector workers. So how do you want to borrow from where you haven’t sown?

“It is not free money and let me sound a bit of warning. Any day that we hear the pension fund, our money has been borrowed, I’ll declare a protest, and everybody is going to be on the streets to protect our hard-earned money.”

Wabba added: “The money belongs to workers. We contribute that money so that when we retire, we can have something for retirement.”

This was contained in a statement  quoted him as saying this during his visit to Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State to condole with the government and people of Borno over the killing of 43 Zambari farmers’ by the Boko Haram terrorists

The statement was titled, ‘Governors Forum: Security challenges are beyond military’.

The Governor was accompanied by the Governor of Sokoto and the Vice Chairman of the Forum, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, and that of Niger State, Abubakar Bello.

Fayemi said soldiers are overwhelmed and needed support to tackle the security situation affecting many parts of the country – insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, and armed robbery.

“But what happened in the last three days is by far beyond any imagination, it was a massacre and it was one that none of us could come to terms easily.

“The reality we can all say, and I personally as security scholar, the reality I can see is that our military is overwhelmed. Our military is no longer in a position to single-handedly tackle this menace effectively.

“It is not a criticism of our military, if one were to suggest a coalition beyond that will even include our neighbouring countries, who are probably more experienced in fighting an asymmetrical war. It will not be a loss of our pride as a country.

“This is not a visit to gratify ourselves, no, it is an expression of also our own frustration.

“We can’t bring back the people we have lost in the last couple of days, but if we do not take the necessary steps the entire nation will be consumed by this insurgency,” Fayemi said.