…workers groan over hardship, say government ‘insincere’
The Kwara 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, THE INFORMANT247 reports.
The State Governor, AbdulRahman 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.”
…workers groan over hardship, say government ‘insincere’
Meanwhile, workers in the state had last month expressed displeasure over the continuous delay in implementation, tagging the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq government as “insincere”.
This was contained in a press statement titled, ‘Insincerity Of Government On The Issue Of Minimum Wage In Kwara State’ and jointly signed by the state Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Aliyu Issa Ore; the Acting State Chairman of Trade Union Congress, Joseph Tunde; the Chairman Joint Negotiation Council, Saliu Suleiman.
The labour unions pointed out that out of 36 states of the Federation, over 94% has overcome the issue of minimum wage and even provides other welfare packages to the workers of their various states for effective and efficient service delivery.
They further added it is worrisome that despite the current allocation of revenue and internally generated revenue in the state, the government has resulted into probating and reprobating on the minimum wage issue, all in the sense of denying the workers and the economy of the state a stimulus factor for growth and development of human beings in the state.
The statement read, “The organized Labour in Kwara State is seriously perturb and worried concerning insincerity of Kwara state government as regard the issue of payment of minimum wage for Kwara State Workers. This position was arrived at the clinical analysis of the situations surrounding the nonpayment of minimum wage in Kwara state since April 2019 when the bill was passed and signed into law by the President, Muhammed Buhari. GCFR dated 18th April, 2019. The government of Kwara state did the inauguration of minimum wage committee on the 29th December 2019 and up till this moment the issue remains inconclusive.
“Value Added Tax was increased from 2.5% to 7. 5% all in name of increasing revenue to state to pay the minimum wage, the implementation of VAT started in march 2020, in which states of the federation has huge percentage of the accrue revenue basically for the payment of minimum wage, the state government has resulted into propaganda forgetting about posterity. Payment of minimum wage by this administration will be propitious to the Government in a future engagement of people of the state particularly the workers across the looks and cranes of the state.
“The court issue came up on the 26 November 2020 at Akure division of National Industrial Court (NICN) of Nigeria for mentioning and exchange of processes, meanwhile, the case was adjourned till 14 January, 2021 for further hearing. However, we want to use this medium to passionately appeal to workers in Kwara State to begin serious prayers against all forces working against the signing and implementation of minimum wage in Kwara State.
“Furthermore, on the issue of table has presented by the office of Head of Service of the state. It is worrisome because the committee in our last meeting categorically rejected any attempt to smuggled into the discussion table that was not agreed by the labour side on payment of little amount as consequential adjustment for GL-07 and above in the state cannot be accepted by the movement.”
