By Dipo Olowookere
The sum of N27,000 was on Tuesday approved as the new minimum wage for workers in Nigeria by the National Council of State.
This is N3,000 lower than the amount approved last month by a tripartite committee set up by federal government to review the wage.
The council held its first meeting for 2019 today and was attended by key government officials as well as former presidents of the country, including Mr Olusegun Obasanjo, who criticised President Muhammadu Buhari via a letter on Sunday.
However, after today’s meeting, Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr Chris Ngige, assured that federal workers will receive N30,000 as minimum wage.
He said federal government will stick to the earlier approved amount because it was committed to making workers happy. It is not certain if state governments will pay the N27,000 approved by the council today.
Governors of the 36 states of the federation had said they will not pay more than N22,500 to their workers because of shortage of funds.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Adedapo Adesanya