Imo, Benue, eight others yet to implement minimum wage

Despite the passage of new N30, 000 national minimum wage approved by the Federal Government since October 2019, 10 states consisting of Imo, Benue, Anambra Kano, Bauchi, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Taraba and Zamfara are yet to implement the new national minimum wage, a survey by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has said.

Speaking at a media briefing in Lagos yesterday, the Acting National President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Dr. Tommy Okon, said the association was working towards the implementation and would soon unfold its plans since the situation has gotten to a point of no return.

Okon, who gave an update on the implementation by some of the states, noted that Anambra and Taraba states had concluded negotiation, but had not begun implementation. He disclosed that Bauchi, Benue, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa and Zamfara states were still on the process of negotiations, while Imo State is yet to begin negotiation.

The ASCSN Acting President commended states that had concluded negotiations and implemented, adding that not only had Kano State commenced negotiation, but also reduced the salaries of workers.

Okon further explained that it was an aberration for any government to reduce or contemplate of not paying salaries that were passed into law.

He hinted that labour had exhausted all mechanisms in industrial relations and collective bargaining and would not hesitate to clamp down on recalcitrant states.

According to him, “The state government is saying they cannot pay and they have refused to tell us how much they spend on security vote with the level of insecurity in the country. They refused to tell us how many Personal Assistants they have, they refused to tell how much they have used to feed their dogs weekly.

“The problem of industrial relations is not caused by the workers themselves but by government. This is man-inhumanity to man. Why do you renege on agreement when you know that is a potential time bomb? When we enter into agreement, it is a simple rule of collective bargaining. We have arrived at a collective agreement and you are reneging without informing the parties involved and see how we can discuss periodically.

“It is important to emphasise that the association has remained focused in pursuing welfare interest of members. In this connection, the Union has tabled the following labour issues before the federal government and they are being processed. The labour demanded for salary review in the civil service, the need for compute annual leave of public servants in working days rather calendar. We demand upward review of retirement age in the public service to 65years or 40 years of service whichever comes first,” he said.

(THISDAY)