Former presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe has suggested that state governors should have the discretion to determine the minimum wage payable to workers in their respective states, rather than adhering to a uniform national minimum wage.
Okupe made the remark while speaking in a televised appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday.
He criticized the National Minimum Wage Act, which mandates governors to pay a uniform minimum wage across the country. He argued that this approach is unrealistic, considering the diverse economic conditions and revenue generation capacities of individual states.
According to Okupe, “We should not make laws that are un-encompassing, that make it compulsory for all governors in the federation to obey them. They are sub-nationalities on their own.” He further explained, “For instance, if you pay a minimum wage in Lagos, why should I pay that in Sokoto? Let every governor decide for his own state, based on his own people’s needs, what he can afford.”
Okupe’s comments come at a time when the Federal Government has proposed a new minimum wage of N62,000, while labour unions have reduced their demand from N494,000 to N250,000.
It should be recalled that the dispute over a new minimum wage led to a brief indefinite strike on Monday, which was called off on Tuesday to allow for further negotiations.
