The Niger State governor, Mohammed Babangida Aliyu, has declared that many state governors would be unable to pay the minimum wage of N18, 000 if the current revenue allocation formula is not reviewed in favour of the states and local councils.
Governor Aliyu made this comment while speaking with journalists at the presidential wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja, yesterday.
He said: “Many of us have already started paying the minimum wage, but for others it is difficult. What does the minimum wage amount to? It is the starting point, but people are now looking at it as a wage increase; that everybody must get it.
“We, the governors, have for a long time been asking for a review of the revenue allocation formula; many states, as we are today, won’t be able to do anything,” he said.
In the current dispensation, the federal government gets approximately 52 per cent of the federation allocation while the 36 states the 774 local government areas share 26.72 and 20.60 per cent respectively.
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has proposed 35 per cent for the federal government, 42 for the states and 23 for the local governments.
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