Industrial action may be underway in Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Kogi, Oyo, and several other states yet to pay the minimum wage of N18, 000 to their workers.
Though the derivation and federation allocation principles leave some states at a disadvantage, the Minimum Wage Act demands that all the tiers of government or federating units implement the Act.
Besides, the issue of wages is on the concurrent list of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), meaning that the federal, state and local governments are bound to share the responsibility of upping the pay of their respective personnel.
The Minimum Wage Amendment Bill was sponsored by a former member of the House of Representatives, Doris Uboh (PDP Ika/Delta) in 2009. The original proposal of the Bill was for a minimum wage of N52,000, but after intense government-labour talks, the amount was whittled down to just N18,000 as the irreducible minimum wage.
However, most of the governors have argued belatedly that with the meagre resources they receive from the Federation Account on quarterly or yearly basis, they cannot implement the Wage Act.
But the paradox remains that the running cost of these states continue to bloat way past the budget that would have been used for the implementation of the policy.
Bayelsa State among other states for example receives a minimum of N10billion from the Federation Account besides its internally generated revenue, but it is yet to pay the minimum wage. However there are few good examples:? Kwara and Rivers states are not only paying the wage increase, they have gone ahead to put something on top!
?Kwara
The Kwara State Government blazed the trail in the North-Central geo-political zone when, in August 2011 , it commenced the implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage for its workers.
The Head of Service, Alhaji Muhammed Dabrako, had announced the? good news to workers during the celebration of this year’s Civil Service Day in the state.
The announcement of the N18,300 minimum wage in the state was greeted with applause from the civil servants and other members of the public.
But? three months into the commencement of the payment,? there are indications that? the outrageous deductions in? workers’ salaries through taxation have made the joy of the workers over the new minimum wage to be short-lived.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY investigation show that there was an increment of between 700 and 1,000 percent increase in the taxes being deducted from the workers’ salaries.
Though the governor of the state, Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed, was said to have directed the Board of Internal Revenue to review the situation in accordance with the nation’s tax law, it is yet to be known whether such review will favour the workers.
When contacted, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Umar Faruq Akanbi, confirmed what he termed the outrageous deduction from workers’ salaries since the commencement of the implementation of the new minimum wage in the state.
Akanbi who poured encomiums on Governor Ahmed for being the first governor to implement the new wage in the North-Central zone, however, added that “the fact that workers in the state have reacted to the outrageous deduction in the salary, we can not claim that we are satisfied.”
Rivers
There are indications that the Rivers State government may settle for N20,000? as the new minimum wage with the inclusion of? N2,500 as medical allowance.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered that the amount was agreed upon by the state government and leaders of the NLC, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the Joint Negotiation Council (JNC) after a series of meetings.
It was also gathered that though the government had, during the meetings, insisted on the removal of the medical allowance since the N18,000 minimum wage was consolidated, the labour leaders succeeded in convincing government to retain the allowance.
TUC? chairman in the state, Comrade Hyginus Chika Onuegbu, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that an agreement on a new salary structure would soon be signed by the state government and leaders of the organized labour for the payment of the new minimum wage to commence.
He said: “The Rivers State government did not refuse to pay the N18,000 minimum wage. The NLC, TUC and JNC in Rivers State have been negotiating with the state government and agreement was reached in principle regarding the salary structure and amount which when medical of N2,500.00 is included is over N20,000.00 for the least paid workers.
“However, the government was insisting that the medical should be removed as in government view, the N18, 000.00 minimum wage is consolidated. We met last Tuesday, and we (labour) presented a strong case why the N2,50 medical allowance should remain. We hope to meet overy soon to sign off agreement for the new salary structure.”
Meanwhile, the state government has expressed its commitment towards paying its workers salaries based on the new minimum wage.
The commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Seminatari, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that state government was already paying its workers N17,000 as minimum wage, adding that the issue of paying N18, 000 had already been addressed.
Kogi
In Kogi State, the state government was yet to commence the payment of the new national minimum wage. However, the present administration in the state has assured that it was prepared to implement the new wage.
However, the government recently implemented relativity package for the workers which enabled them to receive higher wages, where the take- home pay of the least civil servant? in the state is N14,100.
The government has also reviewed the deductions from workers salaries upward?? following the implementation of the relativity package.
Determined to implement the new wage, the state government has set up a 17-man standing committee to work out modalities for the payment of the minimum wage.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Hon. Musa Ahmadu,who is heading the committee, said the committee would? do a thorough job? that would not only lead to a lasting solution to the problem, but would forestall hitches as far as the implementation of the new wage was concerned.
He said his committee would advise the government on how to pay the? new salary structure in line with the available resources.
Nine members of the committee were drawn from the organised labour, while the other members represent the state government. The civil servants in the state are eagerly waiting for the speedy completion of the committee’s assignment to enable them enjoy the new minimum wage.
While state workers are enjoying salary relativity, local government workers are yet to feel its effect. They have threatened to down tools if council chairmen failed to implement the package for them.
The state president of Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, Comrade Tom Abutu, told journalists in Lokoja that they would close shops in the next few days unless the heads of local government administration? in the state implement the salary relativity.
Niger
In Niger State, the government and labour had in September agreed on the implementation of the minimum wage law. And the state Head of Service, Alhaji Ahmed Matane, had said after the signing of the agreement last month that the new wage bill would be reflected in the September salary.
The implementation did not however materialise in September due to what the HOS described as technical hitches.
He said the government would start paying the new salary structure as soon as the technicalities were resolved. He said the government had received the consent of the labour in this regard.
Matane told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that the new wage would be implemented through table payment from September till December, to enable the government determine the actual wage bill and flush out ghost workers.
He claimed that the state work force stood at 32,000 and that government suspected the existence of ghost workers, even with the several auditing which took place between last year and now.
The HOS claimed that the state civil service was the largest in the northern part of the country, hence the need to ensure that ghost workers were not in the service.
Addressing a joint news conference with the state chairman of NLC Comrade Ndako, Matane added that the state would be expending about N2.5billion monthly on workers’ salary out of an average revenue of N2.8 billion accrue to the state.
Abia, Enugu, Imo and Ebonyi
The recent decision by the Abia State government to send packing non-natives working in the state civil service has received so much flak.
The underlying for the mass purge of ‘non-indigenes’, LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered, is because of the “constraints” on the Abia State government to pay the N18,000 minimum wage.
On August 25, 2011, the Abia State government issued a circular which directed non-natives in its employ to disengage and return to their various states by October 1, 2011. The circular exempted those working in tertiary institutions in the state.
The circular with reference no HAS/S.0071/11/13, issued by the HOS, Mr. G. C. Adiele, directed heads of ministries, departments and agencies, and the Local Service Commission “to submit the names of all non-indigenes in their employ on or before September 1, 2011, failing which, or any connivance thereto, shall attract strict sanctions by government”.
The circular entitled:? “Back loading on transfer of Non-indigenes from Abia State Public Service to their States of Origin”,? Adiele said, “I write convey the approval of the Government of Abia State that non-indigenes working in the public service of Abia State (including local government), be transferred to their states of origin with effect from Octobern 1, 2011.? This policy does not apply to tertiary institutions in Abia State.
Osun
Following the agreement reached by the? Osun State government with its workforce on the new minimum wage Act of N18,000, which made the workers in the state? suspend its five month-old strike embarked upon to pressurize to acceed to their home demands,the state government has blamed the workers in charge of payment of the workers for the delay in the payment of August salary.
The state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed this yesterday during a meeting with the retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries in the state’s public service,said that delay was also in the payment the salary when the workers rejected the government offer to pay the old salary and? then pay the? areas later.
It would be recalled that Aregbesola’s government has agreed to fully implement the new minimum wage to the workers in the grade levels 1 to 7 and used relativism table to pay other levels from grade 08 to 17, promising that whenever the financial status of the state improved,? the government would implement the new minimum wage in full.
In the same, the state government has jacked up the new minimum wage of the state workers to N19,000.
But speaking with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY on the development of the state chairman, Joint Negotiation Council (JNC), Comrade Bayo Adejumo, maintained that the workers in the state had won part of the battle as regards the new minimum wage.
Comrade Adejumo further stated that the battle on the new minimum wage would win when the state government implements the new wage Act for its workforce on grade levels 08 to 17.
Oyo
Workers in Oyo State would, for the time being, contend with the payment of N 13,000 as their minimum wage until the federal government implements its own and the labour leaders resume fresh negotiations.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY was reliably informed that the state chapter of NLC had suspended further negotiation on the matter with the state government until the federal government commences the payment of N 18,000 as it promised.
An executive of the state NLC, who wanted to remain anonymous, explained that it would amount to jumping the gun if they insisted on the payment of N 18,000 now when the initiator – the federal government – had not done so.
Expressing optimism that the state government would not do anything against the interest of its work force, the labour official said, “let us wait and see.”
A Secondary School Vice Principal appealed to the state government to be fair to all cadres of workers anytime it implements the payment, adding that it would be unfair to limit it to particular grade levels as being speculated..
It would be recalled that the immediate past governor approved the payment of N 18,000 before the end of his tenure.
Bayelsa
In Bayelsa State, the relationship between the state governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, and the workers seems to have gone sour due to rising suspicion that the state government is delaying in the implementation of the N18, 000 minimum wages as passed into Law by the National Assembly.
Sylva had announced that it had received a report from the state committee on the implementation of the N18 minimum wage and assured that the workers in the state civil service may be the first to receive the package as provided by the minimum wage law.
Sylva, represented by his deputy, Werinipre Seibarogu, at the May Day rally held in Yenagoa, said though the administration’s commitment to workers’ welfare had earned it the award of a labour-friendly government, the quick implementation of the minimum wage would be added to the prompt implementation of the consolidated salary structure for civil servants, payment of the new teachers’ salary structure (TSS), and the new salary structure for judiciary workers.
Governor Sylva told the workers at the rally, including members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), that the quick response of his administration to the issue of workers’ welfare was based on the past and present efforts of the workers at sustaining the state and the country.
The promise by the governor was made during the workers’ May? Day rally in the state and, since then, the payment had not commenced. In a dramatic turn around, the governor shocked the workers of the state with an open query to the payment to workers in the state.
Sylva, during the swearing-in of the new HOS, queried the rationale behind the demand by the state workers for the implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage, saying the services offered by workers in the state were not commensurate with wages paid them by government.
The governor, whose administration had initially showed signs of agreeing to implement the N18,000 minimum wage and set up a committee to check the modalities to be used, said the Bayelsa civil servants did not report early to duty and that the service rendered must be commensurate with? the salaries paid by government.
“Head of Service, you are going to be on top of a civil service that I consider today as not very functional. People don’t perform the job they are employed and paid to do. You must ensure that you make this civil service work, and instil discipline. The civil service remains the engine room of any government that would want to succeed and I call on all the senior civil servants to use their positions to improve the standards.”
The workers, however, after waiting for months for the implementation of the new wage in the state, decided to break? their? silence over the dilly-dallying of their state governor over the payment of the N18, 000 minimum wage approved for them the new law passed by the National Assembly.
The workers,? under the aegis of the NLC and the TUC, issued a seven-day ultimatum to the governor to implement the new wage. The timeline was issued shortly after the state executive councils of the congresses met to deliberate on matters affecting the workers, especially the governor’s lattest stance.
Cross River
As other states in the federation battle to pay N18,000 minimum wage, the Cross River State government startted paying the minimum wage beginning with August salaries. Workers in the 18 local government and state civil servants last August collected the N18,000 minimum wage in the state; however, they are yet to collect September salaries.
Before now, the special adviser to the governor on Labour, Comrade Ededem Ita Edem, had told journalists in Calabar, the state capital,? that Governor Liyel Imoke was willing to pay the N18,000 minimum wage to workers of the state government.
Edem explained that because of the desire of government to fulfill the obligation to its workforce, it had engaged the organized labour in negotiations over the new wage, which he said had been fruitful.? He assured them that?? both parties were working out modalities for the payment of the new wage.
So far, according to the special adviser, three meetings had been held between government and labour, adding that the latter had presented its positions on the matter in all the engagements. Based on this, the governor had sent a supplementary budget to the state House of Assembly and, after due deliberations, the clean copy was sent to the governor for his assent, which he signed into law.