Details Of State Governors’ Meeting Emerge

The details of the meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), which held on Monday, October 28, have emerged.

Naija News had reported earlier that the State Governors met on Monday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, where the NGF noted that the consequential increments in the implementation of the N30,000 Minimum Wage Law would depend on the capacity of each state government.

This online news platform understands that this was revealed by Kayode Fayemi, the chairman of the forum and Governor of Ekiti State, while briefing journalists at the end of the meeting of the forum.

While reading the meeting’s communique, Fayemi said the forum made the resolution when it met and reviewed current progress in the implementation of the minimum wage law.

Clarifying on the forum’s position and Federal Economic Council’s decision, the Ekiti State Governor said while state governors agreed to the N30, 000, FEC did not determine what happens in the states.

Governor Fayemi said that each state had its State Executive Council, which is the highest decision making body at the state level.

His words: “The forum as the representative body of the states keenly followed what happened in the negotiations that led to that template.

“As far as we are concerned, the best the forum can do is to stick with what has been agreed with the states. States are part of the tripartite negotiations.

“States agreed to that N30,000 minimum wage increase.

“States also know that there will be consequential adjustment but that will be determined by what happened on the state-by-state basic.

“Because there are different number of workers and different issues at the state level.

“Every state has its own trade union joint negotiating committee and they will undertake this discussion with their state governments.

“The day after this agreement was reached with labour, it was on record that I was on a national television and made the position of the governors clear.

“That for us this was a national minimum wage increase, not a general minimum wage review.

“Yes, that may necessitate consequential increment, we have no doubt about that but that is a matter for the states to discuss with their workers,’’ he said.

Speaking further, Governor Fayemi of Ekiti State also pledged the governors’ commitment to counterpart resources to strengthen mass vaccination campaigns against yellow fever at the states.

The chairman of the forum commended the rapid response of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency to nip in the bud the August yellow fever outbreak in parts of the country.

“Members commended the progress made by state governments through their Social Health Insurance Authorities to enroll and provide health insurance cover for citizens across the country.

“In the last one year, state governments have registered over two million people compared to five million Nigerians registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme over the last 14 years,’’ he said.

The chairman of the forum also expressed the forum’s tribute to Dr. Stella Adedavoh, the physician who attended to `Patient 0’ during the Ebola Outbreak in 20I4 in Lagos State.

“Adedavoh died from Ebola virus on Oct. 21, 2014, but her memory lives on with the dream of `Healthcare for all Nigerians’’, he said.

Fielding question on Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s ad hoc committee on the excess crude account and other special accounts, Fayemi said it was a committee of the National Economic Council.

The governor, however, said that the report would be submitted on Tuesday to the council.

On the N614 billion support to states by the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari, the chairman of the forum said the governors did not have any issues with the deduction, adding that “it has been deducted as far as I am aware, from state accounts.’’