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Nigerian governors say a better national minimum wage will be agreed upon through ongoing negotiations between the government, private sector, and organised labour.

They gave the assurance after a closed-door meeting in Abuja, the nation's capital, chaired by the Chairman of the Governors Forum, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, North-central Nigeria.

According to the governors, negotiations will continue with stakeholders to reach a mutually agreeable solution.

A communique signed by the governors reads, "We members of the Nigeria Governors' Forum, NGF, at our meeting deliberated on issues affecting the country."

Members received the Acting Country Director of the World Bank, Mr. Taimur Samad and his team to discuss the Bank's various programmes currently being implemented in the states.

The programmes include the HOPE series of projects, Nigeria Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equality, Food and Nutrition Security, Nigeria For Women Project Scale Up, Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Program, State Action on Business Enabling Reforms Programme, and Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project.

Members expressed willingness to continue to provide the much-needed support to ensure programme effectiveness across the country.

Members also received a briefing from Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, where he highlighted progress made regarding ongoing Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.

He sought the input and support of their excellencies on a number of proposals which would directly impact the subnational level of government.

Members pledged their support for the committee to ensure the successful implementation of these reforms and to collaborate closely to address any challenges that may arise.

The Forum also received a presentation from the Minister of Women Affairs on the World Bank-Nigeria For Women Project Scale-Up, along with other activities of the Ministry.

Members noted the importance of the project and emphasised the need to implement it at the state level as initially conceived, as the states are the primary obligors of the project.

The governors acknowledged the work and contributions of the Ministry of Women Affairs in promoting gender equality, empowering women, and advancing social development across Nigeria.

The Forum discussed the new national minimum wage and agreed to continue engaging with key stakeholders to reach a mutually agreeable solution.

"We remain dedicated to the process and assure that better wages will result from the ongoing negotiations," the communique stated.

The Nigerian government had last month instituted legal action against the governors of the 36 states of the federation at the Supreme Court over alleged misconduct in the administration of Local Government Areas, LGAs.

The suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, was filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, seeking full autonomy for all LGAs in the country as the third tier of government.

The government asked the apex court to prohibit state governors from unilateral, arbitrary, and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders.

It also sought an order allowing funds standing to the credit of local governments to be paid directly to them from the Federation Account in line with the Constitution, rather than through alleged unlawful joint accounts created by governors.

The Nigerian government also prayed the Supreme Court to stop governors from constituting caretaker committees to run local governments against the constitutionally recognised democratic system.

The government had announced that President Bola Tinubu would engage in further consultations with governors and the private sector before deciding on the new minimum wage.

Over the past few months, the federal and state governments, organised labour and the private sector have been negotiating a new minimum wage.

At the last meeting of the tripartite committee, organised labour rejected the N62,000 proposal by the government and insisted on N250,000 as the living wage.

The government, however, asked the labour unions to demand a more realistic and sustainable minimum wage.

The meeting was attended by governors of Ogun, Nasarawa, Kano, Bauchi, Niger, Kaduna, Kebbi, Oyo, Zamfara, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Delta, Katsina and Gombe states.

Others included the deputy governors of Akwa Ibom and Borno states.

This meeting of the Governors' Forum is the first public meeting that the Forum is holding after the tripartite committee on the new national minimum wage concluded its negotiations two weeks ago.