States should be allowed to determine minimum wage -Katsina gov

The Katsina State Governor, Dikko Radda, has argued that states should be allowed to determine their minimum wage, based on a minimum standard set by the Federal Government, noting that challenges and revenues generated differed between states.

Governor Dikko stated this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, on Friday evening.

The According reports that the labour unions, the Nigerian Labour Congress, and the Trade Union Congress had last month, submitted a proposal of N615,000 minimum wage to the tripartite committee set up by the FG.

While the government did not announce an increment in minimum wage during the Workers’ Day celebration held on Wednesday, the FG announced a 25 and 35 per cent wage award for workers, which the NLC President, Joe Ajaero described as “mischievous.”

However, Dikko said sub-nationals should be allowed to come up with their standards for increments in the minimum wage, which the various states would be able to afford.

“So, I think on the issue of the minimum wage, we agree that the Federal government can have a minimum standard of the minimum wage, but sub-nationals should be allowed to come up with a reasonable standard within which their economy can be able to afford.

“That is my view and that is the view of some of our colleagues. Yes, we have agreed that there should be a minimum wage, but there should be a minimum standard within which the sub-nationals can address it”, he said.

Asked whether Katsina state would opt to pay N70,000 as minimum wage like one of its counterparts in Edo states, the governor said “I don’t know what comes into the Edo state coffers, so the governor is at the liberty to say whatever amount he can afford”.

He noted that some states were still unable to pay the N30,000 minimum wage, adding that the state would need to consider its revenue and the strength of its civil service to determine exactly how much it could pay its workers.

“For me to sit down here and tell you that this is the amount that I will agree to pay my civil servants, I cannot do it. Because we are running a government, we need to take this thing into executive council to sit down with all the important people in government, look at our revenue, look at our expenditure, look at the strength of our civil servants before we can conclude.

“You would remember that even the N30,000 minimum wage that was agreed upon over the years, there are some states that up till now, have not implemented the N30,000 minimum wage. So, we have to be very careful and look at it holistically so that we can address the issue appropriately,” he added.