Indications have emerged that meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor could not produce tangible results as Governor insist they cannot pay more than N24,000 as minimum wage.
The meeting was part of efforts to tackle the minimum wage issue,
But feelers from the Villa indicate that the meeting ended in deadlock following the insistence by the Governors that the proposed N30,000 minimum wage was untenable
Villa sources said the meeting which was to have lasted for three hours lasted for only one hour, following the impasse
The Governors including Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara) attended the closed doors meeting.
Governor Yari, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) led the Governors to the meeting that lasted for over an hour, at the end of which they left without speaking to the Stare House Press Corps
NGF had last week constituted a committee to meet with the President over the National Minimum Wage.
A tripartite panel of the Federal Government on the new minimum wage chaired by a former Head of Service, Ama People had about two weeks ago recommended N30,000 as the country’s new national minimum wage.
The Governors after an emergency meeting in Abuja, last week, on the minimum wage in Abuja, asked the organised Labour to choose between the N30,000 and job cut.
The Governors left the Villa without speaking to the State House reporters. The Media Office of the President is expected to issue a press statement on outcome of the meeting soon.
As at the time of filing in this report, the President Media office was yet to issues release on the outcome of the meeting while no explanations were offered for the development
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
