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Representatives of state governments have lamented the Federal Government's decision to save additional revenue for the new minimum wage payment at the recent Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting.
They claimed the development affected their revenue distribution, noting that the federal government transferred N200bn into the non-savings account at the August FAAC meeting, totalling N595bn.
Commissioners of Finance from Akwa Ibom, Delta, and Ekiti raised this observation at the last FAAC meeting on August 16, 2024.
The committee distributed a total sum of N1.36tn to the three tiers of government, N1bn less than the N1.35tn shared in June, despite recording an increase of N13bn between the gross total of N2.61tn in July and N2.48tn in June.
In his opening remarks, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, commended President Bola Tinubu for signing the National Minimum Wage Act into law, stating that its implementation would greatly benefit all Nigerians.
He further revealed that discussions regarding the consequential adjustments were still ongoing.
The minister was quoted as saying that work on the new minimum wage was still in progress, saying that the government continued to dialogue with organised labour and the private sector to reach an agreement.
After a presentation on the gross statutory revenue and necessary deductions of N1.29tn, the commissioners questioned the reasoning behind such deductions.
The Commissioner of Finance from Akwa Ibom State, Dr. Linus Noah, criticized the move, arguing that the income should be shared due to the current financial challenges faced by the states.
The Commissioner from Delta State, Okenmor Tilije, disagreed with the proposed idea of saving the money for the benefit of the central government only and requested that it be shared to augment the distributable allocation.
The Accountant-General of the Federation explained that the decision was taken to save for the rainy day and upcoming financial obligations, including payments of the N70,000 minimum wage.
However, the Chairman of Commissioners' Forum/HCF from Ekiti State, Akintunde Oyebode, stated that the authority should have allowed sub-nationals to decide on the matter.
