Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi State says 95 percent of states in the country cannot pay the proposed N30, 000 minimum wage to workers.
Umahi who made the comment on Wednesday in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state capital, said the payment of the N30, 000 can only be realised if the federation account allocation formula is reviewed to offer more earnings to states.
The governor said: “The federal government collects 52 percent of the revenue from the federation account and when I tried to put the N30,000 figure to local government areas (LGA) it means they will borrow N1 billion to add to their allocation, in paying salaries.
“I will definitely not be a governor to govern such a state and will never preside over a state that will allocate 100 percent of its earnings to pay salaries.”
He urged the country’s leaders and labour to liaise and decide on the percentage of the federation account that should be voted for salaries and other sectors.
“We should determine how much should be allocated to education, health, infrastructure among others if 100 per cent of earnings are used to pay workers salaries,” Umahi said.
“Many states are experiencing various problems and cannot pay salaries but the people condemn their governments over their inability to provide good roads and other amenities.
“People don’t understand the problems being experienced by these states and the governors have kept quiet for long and need to speak presently.”