Representatives of state governments at the last Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting bemoaned the federal government’s decision to save additional revenue for the payment of the new minimum wage......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
States fault FG’s decision to implement N70k minimum wage
The state finance commissioners expressed strong discontent over FG’s decision to allocate an additional N200 billion into a non-oil savings account, this development, it was gathered, affected their revenue distribution from the federation committee.
From the minutes of the the FAAC meeting held on August 16, 2024, obtained by The Punch, it was revealed that a total of N1.36 trillion was distributed among the three tiers of government, which was N1 billion less than the N1.35 trillion distributed in June.
The Commissioners of Finance, Akwa Ibom, Dr Linus Noah; Delta, Okenmor Tilije and Ekiti, Akintunde Oyebode raised an eyebrow when an update on statutory allocation showed that the government transferred a sum of N200 billion into the non-savings account at the August FAAC meeting, making a total of N595 billion.
And after a presentation by a representative from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation on the gross statutory revenue and necessary deductions of N1.29 trillion, the commissioner took turns to question the reasoning for such deduction.
Reacting, the Commissioner of Finance, Akwa Ibom State, Dr Linus Noah faulted the move.
He stressed that the income should be shared in view of the current financial challenges faced by the states.
Additionally, the commission of finance, Delta State, Okenmor Tilije, disagreed with the proposed idea of saving the money for the benefit of the central government only and asked that it be shared to augment the distributable allocation.
But responding, the AGF explained that the decision was taken to save for the rainy day and upcoming financial obligations, including payments of the N70,000 minimum wage.
Civil servants threaten states over N70,000 minimum wage
In a related development, Legit reported that Civil Servants had threatened to shut down states if the governors refuse to implement the N70,000 new national minimum wage.
The president of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Shehu Muhammed, said the workers would go after states not ready to implement the new minimum wage.