Governor Abubakar Sani Bello on Wednesday said the state government will start paying the new National Minimum Wage by the end of this January.
The governor disclosed this while speaking with journalists after he received chairmen of the 25 local governments during a solidarity visit over the recent Supreme Court verdict affirming his election as the duly elected governor of the state.
Governor Bello said that a committee has been set up already and considerable progress has been made in an ongoing negotiation to begin the implementation of the new minimum wage.
“At the moment, our top priority is to address those that have been affected directly by the minimum wage and what it means is, anyone who is below the minimum wage policy.
“I have given the directive that it should be implemented this January, so that those that are entitled or fall within the class of minimum wage will get it”, he said.
According to him, those that are not directly affected by the N30, 000 minimum wage will be taken care of in the next phase which is the consequential adjustment.
“If you implement the new minimum wage, then you find out that there will be the need for consequential adjustments for all,” he said.
The governor noted that paying salaries is not just the only function of government, adding that, at the moment, 80 percent of the state’s income goes into salary payment.
He expressed worries that the state civil servants were not enjoying the best as they should, stressing that, with a workforce of no fewer than 27, 000, and the state population of over 4 million, executing capital projects and paying salaries regularly have been extremely difficult.
