States Should Decide What They Can Pay as Minimum Wage – Okupe

Former presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe 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 interview 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.

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.

Still, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) also criticised the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, over his comment that the shutting down of the National Grid on Monday by the Organised Labour amounted to treasonable felony and economic sabotage.

In a statement late on Friday by a spokesperson for the NLC, Benson Upah, Labour said economic saboteurs wear flowing Agbada (robes), drive in convoys and occupy the corridors of power.

On Thursday, Akume said the shutdown of the National Grid by members of the NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) amounted to treasonable felony. He lamented the loss of revenue by the Federal Government due to the action of the Organised Labour.

Labour shut down the National Grid on Monday and restored it on Tuesday after it relaxed its industrial action to press home demands for new minimum wage.