Former Governor of Ekiti State Kayode Fayemi has discussed the ongoing debate about the national minimum wage in Nigeria, suggesting that state governments should determine their own minimum wage based on their unique financial situations.
The Federal Government and labor unions have been negotiating a new minimum wage for several months. The labor unions are demanding N250,000, while the federal government is offering N62,000.
Fayemi, who also served as the chairman of the Governor’s Forum, advocated for a decentralized approach to minimum wage negotiations. He believes states should negotiate with their own labor unions, taking into account their financial capabilities and local conditions. He said, “Every governor has to deal with the issue of national minimum wage. When I was governor and chairman of the governor’s forum; …and I believe even till this recent negotiation, is that we should decentralise minimum wage negotiations and allow states to have their own negotiations with their own labor unions whilst the Federal Government conducts its own negotiations because the fingers are not equal.”
He emphasized the need for transparency in these negotiations, saying, “This should be decentralised and each state should define in conjunction with their labour unions, with transparency with all the records provided to the labor unions; … and say, ‘Look, this is what we have, but you are also only five or 10% of our population. We also have another 90% of the population that we must attend to.”
Fayemi argued that the push for a uniform national minimum wage is based on rigid thinking and that a decentralized system would not necessarily result in lower wages for state employees. He said, “What we’re dealing with now is dogma. Labour does not want to hear anything about decentralized national minimum wage and decentralised national minimum wage does not mean that what is paid at the level of the state will be lower than the federal. In the ’60s and the ’50s, civil servants in the western regions used to earn more than federal civil servants.”
The minimum wage discussions have sparked various reactions across the country. The governors had previously stated that a N60,000 offer to labor is unsustainable. Human rights lawyer Femi Falana argued that both state and federal governments could afford to pay the minimum wage if they had the political will.
At a Democracy Day dinner on June 12, President Bola Tinubu stated that the federal government would pay what it can afford, suggesting a realistic approach to the minimum wage issue. Tinubu said, “The minimum wage is going to be what Nigerians can afford, what you can afford, and what I can afford. Cut your coat according to your size, if you have size at all.”
Despite these positions, the Nigeria Labour Congress continues to insist on N250,000 as the new minimum wage.
