Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has opposed the death penalty proposed for hate speech offenders by the Senate.

Speaking at the end of the meeting of the governors in Abuja on Wednesday night, NGF vice-chairman and Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, said that no governor has come out openly to support the death penalty as punishment for defaulters of the Hate Speech bill still in the National Assembly.

Tambuwal, who urged the National Assembly to conduct Public Hearing on the Hate Speech Bill, said that the views of the people must be taken very seriously.

“I am not sure I have heard any governor come out to say he is in support of death penalty for hate speech,” Tambuwal said.

“I believe the National Assembly should hold a public hearing on that bill, so that due process of lawmaking is followed so that the views of Nigerians not just the governors will be well captured on that bill and they should respect the views of Nigerians in whatever may be the direction of debate and the eventual passage or otherwise of that bill.”

Tambuwal also said that state governments will resolve the issue of the minimum wage for workers by December as work is in progress.

“Various state governments have been engaging with heir branches of Nigerian Labour Congress I’m sure it is work in progress before December all the states must have finished working out the details on the issue of minimum wage across the federation.

“We are very much committed to the welfare and wellbeing of our workforce and therefore we shall continue to ensure we do our best on what needs to be done,” Tambuwal said.

The meeting was attended by Governors of Bauchi, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Imo, Adamawa, and Kwara State.
The other States represented by Deputy Governors were Gombe, Enugu, Edo, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Ebonyi, among others.