Minimum Wage: Governors say they’re not Elected to Pay Salaries Alone

Zamfara Governor, Abdulaziz Yari

Nigerian governors have said that they are not elected just to pay salaries alone, Abdulaziz Yari

This was made known by the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state.

Yari spoke to journalists on Wednesday night after their NGF meeting.

The governors were reacting to the federal government’s plan to increase the national minimum wage.

Yari said that other sectors need funding too, not just payment of salaries.

“I don’t think you people voted us for only to pay salaries. You are looking for good roads, electricity, education, and others. So, we can’t do magic. It’s only when we have the funds do all those things,” Yari said.

On the minimum wage, Yari said:

We have a committee of six which represents us in discussions in the committee headed by the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige.

The committee has yet to give us the final report. They have given us an interim report that at the Federal Government level, over 82 per cent is being spent on overheads which cannot move the country forward in terms of infrastructure development and development that we need now.

So, on our own part, we are saying we are going to look at how our income is taken from our final account from 14 years ago so that we can come up and stay in the middle.