The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) meeting ahead of Thursday’s National Economic Council (NEC) meeting over the controversial N30,000 new minimum wage failed to hold on Wednesday as a result of lack of quorum.
Out of the 36 governors that made up of the NGF, only governors of Zamfara, Bauchi, Jigawa, Niger and Adamawa and the deputy governors of Kaduna, Enugu, Nasarawa and Katsina were at the meeting.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari would on Thursday consult with the National Economic Council headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the new minimum wage.
The NEC is made up of all the governors, Minister of Finance, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria and
Accountant General of the Federation, among other critical stakeholders.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, told State House correspondents at the end of an extraordinary Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Tuesday in Abuja that the new minimum wage is still work in progress.
He said the federal government is awaiting the final position of the NEC on the new national minimum wage, stressing that FEC meeting on the matter is work on progress.
“It’s a work in progress. It would also be discussed by the National Economic Council (NEC) before we can brief the media,” he said.
The President Buhari had on January 9 inaugurated a Technical Advisory Committee on the implementation of the new National Minimum Wage and reiterated his commitment to its payment.
He restated his commitment to an upward review of the minimum wage, stressing that “it is time to do so.”
He said the committee would recommend “modalities for the implementation of the new minimum wage in such a manner as to minimise its inflationary impact, as well as ensure that its introduction does not lead to job losses.”
Meanwhile, the Director General of the President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organization and Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, met with governors of the All Progressive Congress (APC) at the secretariat of the NGF.
The minister entered the NGF office just as the governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were taking their leave.
The agenda of the meeting with the APC governors was not known, sources said it might not be unconnected with the ongoing campaign for the forthcoming February elections.
