A meeting between the Kwara State Government and the organised labour on the implementation of minimum wage on Friday ended in deadlock as the labour leaders walked out of the parley in anger.
The dialogue, which was meant to resolve pending issues on the implementation of minimum wage, ended abruptly barely 10 minutes after it commenced at the Ministry of Finance in Ilorin, the state capital.
THE INFORMANT247 gathered that the meeting, believed to be an advance of Governor AbdulRazaq’s scheduled Tuesday discussion, started with the labour leaders demanding the government to withdraw a court case instituted against them in Akure.
The government, for their part, pointed out that they could only pay the new wage, with its consequential arrangements, for workers on grade level 1 to 6, a proposal immediately rejected by the labour representatives.
Official of NLC, who declined to be identified, said they were angered by the government’s further refusal to provide details of the consequential adjustment component of the minimum wage for workers on grade level 1 to 6, despite stating, at the start of the meeting, that they have the draft.
“We believe they are not ready for negotiation yet, so we simply walked out,” the official said.
Gov AbdulRazaq to meet labour leaders after strike threat
It was earlier reported that Governor AbdulRazaq will on Tuesday lead the government’s team to interface with the leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress over the minimum wage.
“Pending issues concerning the minimum wage will again be looked into,” Chief Press Secretary to Governor Rafiu Ajakaye disclosed in a statement on Thursday evening.
The workers’ union had on Thursday concluded plan to join its national body to embark on industrial action over unpaid minimum wage and oil prices in the country.
The state government and labour unions had held several meetings in recent past on the issue of consequential arrangements for Local Government workers, which all ended in deadlock, before and after late last year’s strike.
‘No allocation for minimum wage in 2021 budget yet’
THE INFORMANT247 findings had revealed that the State Government is yet to earmark any budgetary allocation yet for the new wages for workers which raise doubt about its readiness for the implementation.
Governor AbdulRazaq, while presenting the 2021 budget before the State Assembly late last year, said that his administration prioritised the implementation of the new minimum wage.
However, as contained in the 2021 appropriation law, the ‘personnel cost’ for 2019 was N13.3bn, while that of 2020 as of September was N10.04bn excluding October, November and December. With N14.5bn for 2021, this showed that the state is yet to make any allocation for a new national wage.
Responding to a question by THE INFORMANT247 on this, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, pointed out that there is N1.2bn in excess of the 2020 actual figure – in the 2021 budget.
“N1.2bn will commence minimum wage when the new salary table is signed,” he said, “Resignation and retirement of workers will also free up some funds. If there are shortfalls, the Ministry of Finance and Planning will sort out the differences as the law permits.”
