IN what appears to be more spanners in the works of the search for an agreement on a new minimum wage, the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) has said local governments across the country cannot afford to pay the proposed N62, 000 as new minimum wage due to paucity of funds from federal allocation.
National President of ALGON, Alhaji Aminu Muazu-Maifata, who disclosed the association’s position on Monday, June 10, while speaking with journalists in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, insisted that all the 774 local governments in the country gets allocation of a little above 18 per cent from Federation Account monthly, thereby making it impossible for them to pay the proposed N62, 000 monthly minimum wage.
Muazu-Maifata said if the local government executives decided to set aside the entire monthly allocations for salaries, ALGON would still not have resources to implement the new minimum wage, adding: “Apart from payment of wages, we still have other responsibilities, such as provision of affordable healthcare, education, security, traditional institution, rural roads, as well as youths and women empowerment, among others, to contend with.”
Muazu-Maifata, who is the Chairman of Lafia Local Government, however, said the council chairmen were in support of wages increments to civil servants, but the revenue coming to the local government is small to carry the wage.
He called for an increase in the monthly allocations of the 774 local governments in the country to enable them pay the proposed minimum wage, saying: “ALGON has a lot of responsibilities to meet up with the N62, 000 minimum wage.
“We will also give priority to issues of security at the local level and attract interventions from development partners to our various councils.”
