In spite of the Adamawa State government’s threat to adopt the no-work-no-pay approach for its striking workers, Governor Murtala Nyako has ordered the payment of their September salary.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workers have been on strike for three weeks over the N18,000 national minimum wage.
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The state’s commissioner of information, Alhaji Abdurrahman Jimeta, who disclosed the governor’s directive to newsmen in Yola yesterday, said the September salary would be paid to the workers using the old rate.
Jimeta urged the workers to be “patriotic and accept the government table on the minimum wage”, which he said was what was available and affordable based on the government’s lean purse. ?
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He said that the government had studied the Minimum Wage Act and based on its understanding, jerked up the salary of junior staff to meet the required N18,000.
The commissioner also explained that the senior workers, whose salaries were above the minimum wage mark were given N10,000 across the board.
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Labour leaders in the state, however, insisted that the table used by the government was not the one initially designed by labour and government representatives.
According to the NAN, recent meetings between labour and government representatives over the matter ended in a dead-lock, with both parties refusing to shift grounds.
Meanwhile, the striking workers fasted for three days and offered special prayers for divine intervention in resolving the matter.?