The National Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Hon. Aminu Muazu Maifata, has said that local governments cannot afford to pay N62,000 as minimum wage.
Maifata said this on Channels Television’s Business Morning segment of the Sunrise Daily breakfast programme on Thursday.
He also suggested that an affordable minimum wage should be set and not something unsustainable like the ₦250,000 proposed by Labour.
“The local government administrations in the country cannot afford the proposed minimum wage by the Organised Labour,” he said.
“With the present allocation from the Federal Accounts, no local government administration can pay workers the ₦62,000 minimum wage proposal by the Federal Government let alone the ₦250,000 demand of the Organised Labour.
“Some local governments have not started paying their workers ₦30,000 which was approved as minimum wage in 2019.
“You can see that in many local councils across the country, workers are still being paid the former ₦18,000 minimum wage.
“As far as I am concerned, an affordable minimum wage should be set and not something unsustainable.”
Muazu-Maifata also called on the federal government to start the process of an upward review of federal allocation to the 774 local councils across Nigeria.
He said this would enable the local governments to pay the proposed 62,000 national minimum wage.
Maifata, who is also the chairman of Lafia Local Government Area as well as ALGON chairman in Nasarawa State, lamented that the 774 local government councils in Nigeria receive little above 18 per cent from the Federation Account monthly.
According to him, it is grossly inadequate to pay N62,000 to workers, adding that even if local government chairmen decide to use the entire monthly allocations for salaries alone, it would still not be enough to implement the new minimum wage.
“Apart from payment of wages, local government chairmen have other responsibilities such as provision of affordable healthcare, education, security issues, traditional institutions, rural roads as well as youths and women empowerment among others,” he said.
On what he plans to achieve as ALGON President, he said he would work towards ensuring a cordial relationship between the LG chairmen and governors of the 36 states of the Federation.
“I also want to improve on the existing unity amongst the various LGAs Chairmen and administrations in the country in order to better the lives of our people,” he said.
“Unity among LGA Chairmen will help us compare notes and come up with good policies and programmes to improve governance for the benefit of the people at the grassroots.
“We will also give priority to issues of security at the local level and attract interventions from development partners to our various councils.”
