Gombe State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress on minimum wage.
Speaking shortly after the MoU on Monday, Chairman of NLC Yusuf Aish-Bello, described the occasion as historic.
He said, “We have signed an agreement on what will be paid to civil servants in Gombe State. You know the salary structure has its intricacies; the N18,000 and N30,000 is nothing to write home about, especially on the issue of basics, that’s our focus as it forms what you get when you retire.
“The highest quantum will be on the basis for our civil servants especially for those retiring and we have achieved over 60 per cent what is left now is 40 per cent which is spread on the allowances there as minimum wage that was how we arrived at N71,451,15.
“Level one will have a basic of N42,000 and this descends in consequential adjustment on the basic. The more it goes up, the amount comes down by consequential adjustment.”
Aish-Bello noted that allowances are among the issues to be reviewed in the next six months, “There are cadres that their allowances emanate from the basic and because of the intricacies and issues we have which is about N500 million increase on the present salary for Gombe State civil servants there are agreements that we have reached with the government which we insist on six months for pending agreements for its implementation,” he added.
Speaking on the government’s decision to deny workers arrears, he added, “Gombe state Government implemented palliative since September last year; N10,000 uninterrupted.”
Earlier, the Chairman of Negotiations on Minimum Wage and Deputy Governor, Dr Manassah Jatau, said the signing of the MoU is a sequel to the efforts of the technical committee.
He said, “I’m glad to tell you that the perfection has been done, that was what you saw us signing, you saw us exchanging it. The finance will go and set up the machinery to ensure October salary reflects this minimum wage for all workers.”
