Implement N18,000 minimum wage for contract workers, KMC tells Kwara govt

A pro-democracy group, Kwara Must Change, has urged the Kwara State Government to begin the immediate implementation N18,000 minimum wage for all categories of contract workers in the the state, either employed by government or through government consultants.

The Convener of group, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, in a statement on Tuesday, said contract employment in any government facility that doesn’t pay N18,000 minimum wage is questionable.

The statement said, “Recently, Office of the Head Of Service, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and several other ministries and agencies engaged consultants and contractors for various purposes such as cleaning, sweeping, security, office assistants etc; and most people engaged by these government consultants or contractors are being paid N10,000, an amount lesser than the required N18,000 minimum wage.

“Apart from the above, cases abound of government establishments, including higher institutions, where contract or casual workers are not being paid up to the mandatory N18,000 minimum wage, in contravention of the laid down rules and regulations.

“Kwara Must Change is of the views that, while it is true that many of the contract workers are not directly engaged by government, we believe that nobody working in any goverment facility whether directly engaged by government or otherwise should be earning less than N18,000 minimum wage during the duration of their contract.

“It is also understood that the practice of consultants paying contract workers N10,000 monthly wages has been in place since the last administration, but we do not think such practices should continue under this administration”

“Our Investigation reveals that, all consultants, based on contract sum and agreement has capacity to pay N18,000 minimum wage, but are refusing to do so due to other considerations, thereby earning excessive profits.”

The group consequently demanded that the government should call attention of the affected government offices and consultants to make appropriate correction, “as any contractor or consultant not willing to effect this changes may be advised to drop the job”.