By Tony Edike

ENUGU – South- East Governors Forum meeting ended in a deadlock in Enugu, Sunday, over the  implementation of the new minimum wage by states in the zone.

The disagreement was as a result of a division between some governors who are willing to meet the demands of their workers and those who are adamant.

Sources close to the governors disclosed that only one out of the five governors was willing to meet the workers’ demand.

The meeting which was slated for 1pm ended about 5pm and the Chairman of the forum and Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, refused to talk to journalists.

Obi told newsmen that there was nothing to say on the outcome of the meeting.

Vanguard gathered that the governors who were rushing to their vehicles were heading to the Akanu Ibiam International Airport enroute Abuja for a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan.

Sources said the meeting was summoned in the wake of the ongoing indefinite strike action by civil servants in Enugu State declared by the national leadership of the labour unions in Nigeria.

The essence of the meeting was for the governors to adopt a common stand on how to counter the demands of their workers for the full implementation of the new minimum wage.

The governors were said to be disturbed by the intervention of the national leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, in the minimum wage negotiation and the consequent strike action declared in Enugu and Ebonyi states from Thursday last week.
The position of the governors, it was further  gathered, was that none of the states in the zone  should negotiate with the labour leaders at the national level.

The forum believes that the minimum wage was purely a South-East affair and no governor in the zone should negotiate with any labour leader outside their states, the source said.
The governors reportedly insisted that they would not shift grounds from their various positions on how much they can afford to pay their workers.

They argued that if any of the states accepted full implementation of the new wage the others would be blackmailed to do so.

The sources recalled that during a strike action by unions of state-owned universities in the zone, labour leaders from outside the state were ordered out of a meeting between the governors and staff unions, on the ground that it was an Igbo affair.

The forum also deliberated on how to reduce workforce in their various states in order to have enough fund to pay the minimum wage but no consensus was reached on it.

It would be recalled that the National President of the NLC, Comrade Abdul Waheed Omar, while declaring an indefinite strike action in Enugu State stated that the state would serve as a test case and a warning to Abia, Anambra and Ebonyi state governments who are unwilling to implement the new wage.

Omar also announced that the national leadership of NLC and TUC have taken over the negotiation of the new wage with the state government from labour leaders from the state.