Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke has called for the review of the Federation Account Revenue Sharing Formula as well as the moving of Solid Minerals from Exclusive to Concurrent Legislative list.
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The Governor made the call in Lagos at the South West Zonal Public hearing on the new national Minimum Wage.
Governor Adeleke who represented the South West at the National Tripartite Minimum Wage committee, while addressing labour leaders and other delegates at the hearing, said there was a consensus on the need to increase the minimum wage but noted that a review of the revenue sharing formula and amendment of legislative list are necessary to boost the capacity of the states to pay the new minimum wage.
“In all our meetings and various deliberations, one thing that the committee has been able to establish is that the workers in Nigeria are due for an improved welfare package. There is a consensus for an upward review of the National Minimum Wage because the existing one has become unrealistic.
He maintained that majority of the governments at the Sub−Nationals can hardly sustain an improved wages and salaries for their workers without a significant adjustment in some of the narratives in the national economy.
“In tandem with the public outcry for the review of the sharing formula for the federation account, the time has come for the federal government to revisit the matter. There is an urgent need for the review of existing sharing formulas in favor of states and local governments.
“I call on the National Assembly through the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to urgently take decisive action to look at the ratio objectively and realistically.
Governor Adeleke noted that every state in Nigeria has been blessed with one form of natural resources or the other, appealing for the move of solid minerals from exclusive to concurrent legislative list.
On the new minimum wage, the Governor posited that workers in Osun State deserve improved wages and salaries, just as the state government is in support of a new and realistic minimum wage for all workers within the limit of the available resources.
“While it would be desirable to see that a uniform minimum wage is agreed on a national basis, it would amount to self deceit to assume that states have equal ability to pay.
He, however, pointed out that individual states would have to negotiate with their workers and agree to a realistic and sustainable minimum wage in line with the available resources.
