By Uche Amunike
The Gombe chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has agreed to await the promise made by the state’s deputy governor, Dr Manasseh Jatau, that the governor is committed to paying the Gombe State minimum wage of N70,000.
This disclosure was made by the NLC Chairman, Yusuf Aish, during a briefing with journalists after the Minimum Wage Implementation Committee meeting, which was held, Sunday, at the office of the Deputy Governor.
His words: ‘In our tripartite discussion, we came to agree between us and the government that we are going to wait a little bit to see the time the National Minimum Wage table which has been agreed by the Federal Government will be released. Whenever it’s released, we will start full negotiations in Gombe with a view to agree on what will be paid in the state.’
He further stated: ‘The N10,000 palliative being paid to civil servants since September 2023 is still ongoing. What we have agreed now is for a civil servant to understand their actual salary and the palliative.’
‘The government will pay actual salary and then pay N10,000 separately for a civil servant to understand. Civil servants will receive two alerts by implication. We hope the table will be out for us to commence negotiation to agree on what we will pay civil servants in Gombe.’
The Deputy Governor, who is also the Chairman of the committee, was represented by Head of Service, Ahmed Abdullahi, maintained that N10,000 was introduced across board by the government, to alleviate the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on every worker, last September.
He explained: ‘It was the magnanimity of the governor to alleviate the hardship caused by the removal of subsidy on civil servants to assist them he introduced N10,000 so that the civil servants can feel better in the discharge of their duties the governor was paying N40,000 minimum wage which is understood as most states in the federation couldn’t afford to pay the N30,000 minimum wage but the governor has paid N40,000 minimum wage.’
‘The payment of N10,000 by the governor was due to his concern, feeling, and regard for civil servants that he announced the palliative. It’s almost one year, to be precise they started paying N10,000 to workers last September and we are approaching September 2024.’
While promising to implement the Gombe State minimum wage of N70,000, Jatau averred: ‘He (governor) is highly committed to paying the N70,000 minimum wage. I want to draw our attention to the N10,000 palliative he initially said is pending when negotiation is reached between the Federal Government and labour. Thank God, an agreement has been reached which is N70,000 will be paid and it’s now time as the standing committee is in place for a long time.’
‘We are fine-tuning how to implement the process for now normal salary will be paid and after two days the palliative of the N10,000 will be paid this is for a worker to see the difference between the actual salary and the new minimum wage. So whatever is paid we will see the difference, if they are not paid separately we will not know the difference between our salaries and the new minimum wage because the N10,000 is a different entity and will be segmented for now. The original salary will be paid and in two days the N10,000 will be paid so advertently the N40,000 minimum wage will be paid is just for us to know the difference.’
