Minimum Wage: FG, States Do Not Have Same Economic Situations – Fayemi

Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has said the federal salary structure should not be imposed on states.

He stated this on Wednesday while reacting to the nationwide protest by labour unions over the minimum wage bill.

The bill currently at the National Assembly is seeking to decentralise the payment of minimum wage to workers in the country to allow states to pay according to their financial capacity.

Naija News reports that the bill has passed first and second reading in the House of Representatives.

Speaking when he hosted pro-chancellors of state-owned universities on Thursday in Abuja, Fayemi said the federal and state governments do not have similar economic situations.

“You can’t impose a federal salary structure on states, because we do not all have the same economic or financial situations,” Fayemi said.

“I, for example, do not have the resources of Lagos state, so you won’t expect me to earn the same salary as the governor of Lagos.

“The people you appoint as vice-chancellors need to speak truth to power. They need to be able to bite the bullet, and not just be a ‘yes’ person.

“We need to work together to confront these issues. We are running glorified secondary schools as universities by this system, and you have to help us in insisting that the institutions, too, do the right thing.”