By correspondents.
Seventeen state governors have raised committees to implement the N70,000 new minimum wage for workers across the country.
The 17 states which set up the implementation committees are Ogun, Ekiti, Sokoto, Kebbi, Osun, Enugu, Borno, Zamfara, Kogi, Kwara, Gombe, Kano, Taraba, Delta, Rivers, Jigawa and Abia.
The development is happening as the Federal Government commenced payment of the new minimum wage to its 1.2 million workers last Thursday.
The Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, in a memo to the Budget Office of the Federation, noted that the civil servants would be paid the minimum wage with effect from September.
On the heels of this, Edo, Lagos, Adamawa states have also commenced payment of the new salary as Anambra pledged to implement the minimum wage in October.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Adamawa state, Emmanuel Fashe, confirmed that Governor Ahmadu Fintiri started paying the new minimum wage in August ahead of the Federal Government and other states.
Fashe who spoke with The PUNCH on Sunday, said that in less than three weeks after President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage bill into law in July, the Adamawa state government commenced payment in August.
He said the state workers got their August salaries but the local government workers received their new minimum wage in September.
Fashe, who blamed the delayed council workers’ salaries payment on the new minimum wage, said that the 2019 consequential adjustment template had to be used to calculate the new wage percentages, and the Accountant General’s office had to update the August payroll.
During the 2024 May Day celebration, the governor had promised to pay any amount the Federal Government agreed with the NLC.
In Anambra, Governor Chukwuma Soludo disclosed that the state will commence the payment of the N70,000 minimum wage from October 2024.
Soludo announced this at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre in Awka, on Thursday, while meeting with all principals and head teachers in public primary and secondary schools across the state.
He said, “From next month, we hope to start paying the new minimum wage of N70,000. Also, from next week, a free education policy will be available to senior students in all public schools in Anambra. Students in senior classes who have already paid their N5,000 fees for this term should be refunded and we promise to do more in human development.
“I assure you that in spite of the binding resource constraint, my administration will continue to work round the clock, to deliver on its mandate. We inherited arrears of pensions and gratuities. We will soon complete the payments. Anyone who retires under my watch usually gets their entitlements after successful documentation.
“Though I have approval to borrow 100 billion naira since I came in, we haven’t borrowed. This is because we don’t want to encumber the future. I will borrow to build capacity for the future. Under my watch, we are going to maintain fiscal sustainability.”
But speaking with The PUNCH, a senior NLC official said the value of the new minimum wage had been eroded, noting that the implementation of the new salary structure should not be romanticised.
“The truth is this, we should not be romanticizing people who are lawbreakers. People who are lawbreakers should not be romanticised. If the Federal Government says they want to start paying, I don’t think it is something that should be celebrated. What is it that they want to start paying? N70,000 that has already been eroded by the actions and policies of the government?
“If you look at the price of PMS (petrol) from the time the minimum wage was signed into law and now, you could see that you could see the deliberate actions of the government to erode the minimum wage.
“A bag of rice now is almost N88,000 or thereabouts. And then it means we are saying we have a minimum wage that cannot buy a bag of rice is a shameful minimum wage. So it’s a starvation wage,” he stated.
He queried the decision of the government to backdate the new wage implementation to July instead of May.
“The 2019 Minimum Wage Act states the new wage takes effect when the old one expires. If payments start in July, shouldn’t Nigerians question why?
“Why do you want to start paying July when the 2019 Minimum Wage Act stipulates that the new minimum wage will take effect from the day that one expires,” he questioned.
The fact is clear that the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act amended only two clauses in the old Minimum Wage Act. State governors that say they can’t pay their state workers the new minimum wage of N70,000 should go and hide their faces, and their heads in shame because any state governor that opens his mouth and says they can’t pay, that state governor is saying, I want to break the law. That state governor is saying, I want to be lawless. That state governor is saying, I want to disobey the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,’’ the official further argued.
The Imo State NLC Chairman, Uche Chigamezu, said the state government has shown commitment to pay the N70,000 minimum wage.
Speaking to The PUNCH, Chigamezu said, “We have received the template for the payment of minimum wage from the national secretariat. We are ready to open discussion with the Government on the way forward.
The Government of Senator Hope Uzodimma has assured the organized Labour of his willingness to pay the minimum wage. Having received the template yesterday night, we have instructed the secretary to write the the governor. The national body has said that each state must negotiate with the Government to get a fine agreement.”
“By next week, discussion on the minimum wage with the government will start and we are sure that the meeting will be fruitful.”
Similarly, the Nasarawa State Government has expressed readiness to pay the new minimum wage.
The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule on Public Affairs, Peter Ahemba, asserted that Sule was committed to the welfare of workers in the state, adding that the governor had long decided to go emulate the Federal Government on matters concerning the new minimum wage.
He said, “On the new minimum wage, the Nasarawa State government has decided to follow the Federal Government’s decision on the matter, so we are waiting patiently for them.
“Governor Abdullahi Sule does not joke with the welfare of workers in the state, So I can assure you that he will do what is right for them.”
On its part, the Ogun State government said it was awaiting the report of its committee on the new wage.
The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to Gov Dapo Abiodun, Mr Kayode Akinmade, stated, “The government is still awaiting the report of the committee set up on the implementation of the new minimum wage and it should also be noted that about two weeks ago, the governor said that the state won’t be the second to pay the new minimum wage, so no cause for alarm”.
Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Taiwo Olatunbosun, explained that workers in the state would be well taken care of, when asked about the implementation of the new minimum wage.
The commissioner, who did not disclose whether the state would pay the minimum wage or not, said the outcome of the ongoing negotiation by the committee set up by the state government was being awaited.
Olatunbosun said, “A committee has been set up by the state government and deliberation is ongoing. I don’t want to pre-empt the outcome of their decision, but I can assure you that there is no problem and the interest of our workers will be well taken care of.”
The Ondo State government has declared its readiness to the amount to its workers.
The state governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Ebenezer Adeniyan, said the government would soon begin paying the new minimum wage, but the law, he noted, has to be domesticated and the implementation structured.
He said, “We will soon begin to pay the minimum wage to workers but not starting this month because we have to domesticate the law and do the structure of implementation.”
Osun State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kolapo Alimi, disclosed that the committee working on the modalities for the implementation of the new minimum wage was yet to complete its assignment.
“A committee working on the modalities for the implementation of the new minimum wage is yet to complete its assignment. But while expecting the committee to submit its report, Osun has extended payment of palliatives to workers by two months.
We have also reduced the number of days they are required to work just to reduce the amount being paid for transportation. Our governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has given his word that the state would pay its workers the new minimum wage,” Alimi said.
Punch.
