States were split yesterday over the agreement the Federal Government reached with the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, on Monday night to pay N35,000 wage award to federal workers to cushion the effect of petrol subsidy removal.
While some of the states said they would align with the Federal Government’s N35,000 wage award for its workers, others said they had already started paying their workers N10,000, even before the Federal Government award, and would therefore, not be bound by the central government’s move.
Recall that the Federal Government had, in the agreement, accepted to continue payment of the wage award until a new minimum wage is arrived at next year.
In Kwara State, the government said it had already started paying N10,000 wage award to its workers, even before the Federal Government and promised to continue to pay but was silent on its readiness to upscale it to N35,000.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, said yesterday: “KWSG started awarding extra N10,000 to every civil servant since July, apparently pioneering some sort of cash award.
He said: “This is to support them until a new minimum wage comes on stream. Some other pro-worker measures, including reduction of work days from five to three, have also been implemented in different sectors to strengthen the purchasing power of workers, with positive impacts on the larger economy.
“The government will continue with these measures and more, such as the N10,000 cash award to students of Kwara State origin, to bring more ease to the people.
“The Kwara State government commends the step of the federal government. It is, of course, expected that other states that do not already have such arrangements will follow suit with sustainable amounts that align with their own financial realities.”