Agency Report/
Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Saturday said that the Federal Government needed to address the current revenue allocation formula, to enable state governments to pay the new minimum wage being requested by workers.
Fayemi spoke when he received the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr Ayuba Wabba, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office, in Ado-Ekiti.
He said that Ekiti, which received one of the lowest allocations in the country, would require extra N2bn monthly to be able to pay.
The governor, who explained that the N30,000 minimum wage was not a comfortable living wage for workers, said he was convinced that governors would pay if the Federal Government created the enabling environment for them to do so.
He, however, suggested a collective approach by labour leadership, the government and the general public.
Fayemi said the issue of affordability was key in paying the proposed minimum wage.
The governor said Ekiti had always been paying above the national minimum wage as the state
was paying N19, 350 as against the N18,000.
He, however, said that for Ekiti State to pay the new N30,000 minimum wage, it would need an additional N2 billion in addition to the current wage bill of N2.6 billion, totalling N4.6bn.
This, he said was the case in many other states, disclosing that Ekiti earns averagely N3bn federal allocation monthly.
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