The Niger State governor, Mohammed Bago has said the State was targeting N1 million as minimum wage for the state civil servants.
Bago disclosed on Friday at the government house, Minna, that he announced a new minimum wage of N80,000 for the state workforce.
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According to the Governor, who disclosed this after an extensive meeting with the leadership of the State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), highlighting that with his stride in agriculture, the state would pay the civil servants N1 million.
Governor Umaru Bago, who fielded questions from newsmen after the meeting, said, “This is very sustainable. N80,000 is sustainable. We are sure that with our stride in agriculture, I am sure we can pay. We are creating civil service farm so that civil servants can be productive. With that, we are sure that we can do both N1 million as minimum wage,” Bago said.
The governor assured that the new minimum wage would cut across the state and local government civil servants, noting, “We have already paid this month’s salary and so it will start in November”
The Niger State chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Idrees Abdulkareem Lafene, who also spoke with newsmen after the announcement, said he was excited about the development, saying that the governor exceeded his expectations.
“I feel delighted, and at least Niger State is among the top-ranking states to implement a minimum wage,” Lafene said.
The chairman who admitted that the new minimum wage was not commensurate with the prevailing high cost of living in the country, noted that N80,000 cannot buy a bag of rice as of now.
Lafene also spoke about the labour union emphasizing that the workers should be pleased with the development.
“They have to be pleased because we represent them. I think given what is obtainable in Nigeria, we got a good bargain. The governor outweighed our initial demands.
We were projecting that the governor would give us N70,000, N75,000 or N80,000. The governor took the highest amount of N80,000, and we are grateful to him,” he declared.
The NLC Chairman also pointed out that the state Labour was expecting a lot of things from the government, saying,” Yes, a lot of things.
If you heard what the governor said, we are starting with N80,000 and we are hoping that probably we will go to N1 million that is what the governor said” he concluded.
