ON THE NEW MINIMUM WAGE. By Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq

Date: 2020-03-13

Yesterday, I met the labour leaders to discuss the new minimum wage.

When we came on board we saw a lot of gaps in salary payment. The N18000 minimum wage was not being paid and there were a lot of casual workers. For example, we had to pay the teachers of colleges of education over N750million arrears of their salary alone and the salaries of primary school teachers of the College of Education in Ilorin were not paid for 30 months.

Now moving forward with the new N30,000 minimum wage, we do not want a repeat of that situation; we want everybody to get their salaries as and when due.

We have found out that the local governments cannot pay the N30,000 wage at the scale we are prepared to sign. The understanding is that the state and local government must pay on the same template/scale. If it is about going ahead and signing what is popular, I can sign today. But it is a choice between signing what is popular and what is practicable. I can sign a popular deal today with the union but by January next year, the local governments would be owing their staff close to N8billion. Then that is when the major strike will come in. This is something I really do not want. We therefore need to mitigate the situation and find a lasting solution to what we are doing.

For example, the local governments struggled to pay the salary for January and February. What came in from Abuja could not pay their salaries. When I contested in 2011 under the platform of CPC, part of my manifesto was that we must abolish this issue of state government running the account of local government, and I am glad that when we came in the federal government insisted that all monies to local governments must go to them. And since we came in that is what has been happening. Nobody has touched local governments' monies. We didn't give it to them and went back to take the money away from them. So they have their money to spend and they have been making savings (when they had surplus) and the savings simply came from the fact that the DPMs have a spending limit. So it is with these savings and their IGR that they were able to augment the shortfall in their salaries in January and February. The salary we are talking about in this instance is the N18,000 minimum wage. So if they are struggling to pay N18,000 minimum wage, how do they pay N30,000 minimum wage? That is a big challenge to us. The other big challenge is that we can see the way the global economy is. Our budget had been predicated on $57 per barrel but oil is now below $35 per barrel.

I don't want us to go back to an era when local councils were paying just 40% workers' salaries. We don't want to be remembered for paying such. We don't want to pay half salary. That is why we want to sign what the local councils can realistically pay.

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Sardauna     Oniyangi Kunle Sulaiman     Alapado     Kwara Hotel     Ilorin Central Mosque     Mufti Of Ilorin     Senate President     Dan Masanin     PharmAccess Foundation     Aisha Ahman Pategi     Usman Rifun     Waziri Yakubu Gobir     Kaosarah Adeyi     Adamu Attah     Kwara Pdp     Is\'haq Modibbo Kawu     Mohammed Katsina Ahmed     Bolaji Abdullahi     Medview Airlines     Ilorin West/Asa Federal Constituency     Inside Kwara     CLAY POT     Sa\'adu Gambari     Amusement Park     Tunji Arosanyin     Musa Yeketi     Baba Adini Of Kwara State     Abdulmumini Jawondo     Centre For Community Empowerment And Poverty Eradication     Opobiyi     Bankole Omishore     Ibrahim Akaje     Henry Olaosebikan     2017 Budget     Deji Ajani     Minister     Kola Adesina     IF-K     Aliyu Muyideen     Yusuf Arowosaye     Baba Idris     Ubandoma     Abdulkadri Ahmad Alaiye     NULGE     Gbemisola Saraki     Hydro-electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission     Muritala Awodun     Surajudeen Akanbi     Ohoro Of Shao     KWSIEC     Ibrahim Agboola Gambari     Tayo Awodiji     Oluwole Dupe     Muhammed Taofeeq Abdulrazaq     Tanke Road     Abatemi-Usman     Apaokagi     Kayode Oyin-Zubair     Neuropsychiatric Hospital     Abdul-Rasheed Na\'Allah     Abdulkadir Bolakale Sakariyah     LEAH Charity Foundation     Bashir Badawi     International Vocational Centre     Damilola Yusuf     Public Holiday     Ahmed Alhasssan     Sola Saraki Educational Foundation     Abdulkadir Orire     BECE     George Funsho Adebayo     Monsurat Omotosho     KwaraLearn     Yakubu Danladi     Peter Obi     Muhammad Sirajo Aliyu     Zulkifli Ibraheem    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Peter Obi     Quareeb Islamic Association     Centre For Digital Economy     Metro Park     Balikis Jawondo     Bukola Ajikobi     Leke Ogungbe     Shade Omoniyi     Tsaragi-Share     Abdulkadir Orire     PAACO-PCL Consortium     Wahab Kunle Shittu     Plat Technologies     Kayode Alabi     Lateef Ademola Olatunji     Alapansapa     ITEM 7     Fola Consultant     Oko-Olowo     Nigeria Customs Service     Mary Kemi Adeosun     Marafan Shonga     Ajia-Bako     Abikan     Mopelola Abdulmaliq-Bashir     N-Power     Oniwasi Agbaye     Yoruba     Ayekale     Col. Adedipe     Garment Factory     Ilorin Emirate Staff Association     Okin High School     Balogun-Ojomu     Abdulhakeem Adelaja Amao     All Peoples Party     Minister     Jaigbade Alao     Olayinka Olaogun     Pakata Development Association     General Tunde Idiagbon International Airport Ilorin     Ilorin Descendants Progressive Union     Sulyman Tejidini     Muyideen Ajani Bello     Economic And Financial Crimes Commission     Principal Private Secretary     Hassanat Bello     Kwara State Polytechnic     Abdulfatai Ahmed     Ibrahim Akaje     KWIRS     Lola Ashiru     Ilorin South     Kwara Hotel     Umar Adelodun     Ilorin Airport     Yusuf Lawal     Abdulraheem Olesin     Kwara State Television     Ojuekun     Akorede     Lanre Olosunde     Mahe Abdulkadir     James Kolo     Abdulmajeed Abdullahi     Gabriel Fashanu     SARS     Garba Ado Sanni     Olomu Of Omu-Aran     Abdulhakeem Amao     Danhawa     Ilorin Central Mosque     Yusuf Abubakar     Balogun Fulani     Jimoh Bashir     Bola Magaji     Convocation Ceremonies