The minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, has said that the new national minimum wage may not materialise in September as earlier envisaged.
Mr Ngige, who disclosed this to newsmen on Tuesday at his residence in Abuja, said that the September date was just a date to conclude negotiation on the issue of minimum wage.
"The committee on the new National Minimum wage is expected to conclude its work by the end of September and present its report to the government for deliberation and approval before an executive bill is sent to the National Assembly on the issue".
The minister, however, said that the issue of capacity to pay was also paramount in the deliberations on the minimum wage.
According to him, it is to get the input of all those concerned including state governments and the organised private sector that the committee embarked on zonal public hearing across the country.
The minister said further that in the course of the zonal public hearings, many state governments made different submissions ranging from N22,000 monthly to N58,000.
He added that the governors were also of the believe that for the new minimum wage to become effective, the current revenue allocation formula would have to be reviewed in favour of the states and local government.
He said that some other states were also of the view that the minimum wage should be maintained at the current N18,000 in view of the inability of some states to pay the current wages.
