Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, announced on Tuesday that his administration is unable to pay the new national minimum wage of N70,000.
Speaking at a meeting with labour leaders, civil society organizations, and traders’ associations at the Government House in Gombe, Yahaya, who also chairs the Northern Governors Forum, explained that the state’s limited allocation from the federation account makes it impractical to implement the wage increase. This comes despite a rise in federal allocations to Gombe and other states following President Bola Tinubu’s removal of petrol subsidies.
“I cannot pay the N70,000 minimum wage, and I suspect many other states are in the same predicament,” he said.
He noted that even the previous minimum wage of N30,000 was challenging for many state governments to implement.