The Bayelsa State Government has approved the payment of N80,000 as minimum wage for staff of local government councils after pressure from the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress.
The government also assured that it would add to the December salaries the differentials arising from the ongoing discussions on the template used in paying the new minimum wage in November.
The state’s acting governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, made this known on Tuesday, at the Government House, Yenagoa during a meeting with the state minimum wage implementation committee and chairmen of the eight local government councils.
The meeting also had representatives of the NLC, TUC, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, Nigerian Union of Teachers and Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria amongst others.
Ewhrudjakpo urged labour to come up with their own computation following the consequential adjustment principle and harmonise the same with the state team to enable the payment of the differentials alongside the December salaries.
He said the decision to pay the new minimum wage to council workers was unanimously agreed upon by all the critical stakeholders including the local government chairmen.
On the issue of the federal government circular for the increment of pensioners’ remuneration, he promised that the government would look at it while disclosing that it had already approved a N10,000 increase for pensioners across the board.
He explained that the state government cannot adopt the federal government template for the implementation of the new minimum wage to workers due to its financial capacity.
He assured civil servants of government commitment to their welfare saying Bayelsa was already paying a more competitive wage than most states in in the South-South region in particular and the country at large.
He stated, “Firstly, we have agreed that the minimum wage for the local governments should also be N80,000. Now the difference is the consequential adjustment which we think that we cannot use the Federal Government’s consequential adjustment because the Federal Government’s rates are higher.
“Secondly, the Federal Government has ways and means, but both state and local governments do not have such powers. So, as we go for the consequential adjustment, we will look at what we can carry, and I need all of us to put the survival of Bayelsa State and our councils at the back of our minds as we negotiate.
“We should not fail to understand that the resources that come to the state or local government are not meant for those of us who are politicians and civil servants. The truth is that we constitute only about 15 per cent of those who earn income as salaries.
“The majority of our people earn social services such as health facilities, education, security, roads, bridges and other amenities that are also being provided from those same resources. So, I really want to appeal to labour to show understanding.”
Speaking on behalf of organised labour, the state NLC chairman, Comrade Simon Barnabas, thanked the government for approving the new minimum wage for workers in the state.
Barnabas, however, called on the government to adopt the federal government template for the consequential adjustment as well as approve the N32,000 increment for pensioners as contained in the recent federal circular.
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