As sit at home order continued to bite across Nigeria, Gombe and Adamawa state governments have suspended payment of the N30,000 minimum wage following dwindling finances attributing it to ‘’ the effect of coronavirus pandemic on the economy.’’
For now only Gombe and Adamawa announced the suspension of the workers new minimum wages.
Mr Manassah Jatau, Gombe state Deputy Governor, said at a press briefing on Saturday in Gombe, that the decision was taken after consultation with the standing committee on minimum wage and relevant stakeholders.
According to him, the new minimum wage suspension is with effect from March 2020.
“The minimum wage increment and its consequential adjustments adopted by the state has been suspended until when the economy of the state improves.
“The Ministry of Finance is to review the 2020 budget to reflect the reduction in the price of oil in the international market and subsequent adoption of 30 dollars per barrel benchmark by the Federal Government.
“In view of the above, all salaries of political office holders and Permanent Secretaries will be reviewed accordingly as a sacrifice to the state”, the deputy governor said.
He said that the state revenue service would be strengthened to perform better with a view to reducing the state’s over reliance on Federal allocations.
Jatau further that the government would announce new austerity measures to further reduce financial leakage and enhance savings for execution of necessary capital projects.
Just like Gombe, in the neighboring Adamawa, the state government earlier told the organized labour in the state that it will not be able to pay March salary with the consequential adjustment of the national minimum wage agreed upon and duly signed with the joint trade unions .
A statement signed by the governor’s Director General, Media and Communications, Solomon Kumangar stated that the action was sequel to dwindling resources following the advent of COVID-19 into the country.
“The State Government wishes to inform the entire labour force that due to the economic crunch imposed by the alarming effects of COVID-19 pandemic, it is unable to pay March salaries with the consequential adjustment of the national minimum wage agreed upon and duly signed with the joint trade unions.
“For the avoidance of doubt, government is irrevocably committed to paying the consequential adjustment with the backlog/arrears as soon as the COVID-19 and its negative economic implications abate.
“It should be noted that the government decided on this and other cost saving measures to enable it undertake basic services.
“Finally, government assures that the welfare of the workforce remains paramount and the centerpiece of governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri’s cardinal agenda,” it stated.
Mixed Reactions trail
For now mixed reactions and salvos firing continued to trail with Mr Mohammed Musa, Gombe state Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) calling on civil servants to remain calm and appreciate the current situation the state government had found itself.
“At the last federation allocation, Gombe State lost N800 million from its allocation due to the dwindling oil price at the international market,’’ he said.
Also reacting, Mr. Rodney Nathan, the Vice-Chairman of NLC, Adamawa state chapter said, although their members have expressed serious reservations and anger over the development, he said to be fair to the government the labour leaders were briefed over the development noting it was caused by dwindling revenue on account of coronavirus pandemic.
“I received a lot of calls from my members telling me that they were disappointed because they have included the increment in their budgets but with the situation, they are now in disarray,” he said.
But for Dr. Umar Ardo who is spear heading a new pressure group in the ruling PDP, refers as r-PDP, accused Governor Fintiri of insensitive with workers plight.
In a statement he issued to newsmen on Wednesday and made available to Adamawa Times Ardo wrote:
While in other climes, in more serious societies, government injects money into the system to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and stimulate the economy, in our own case we are unable to even pay workers their meager salaries.
‘’And this is all as a result of poor governance, lacking in innovation and direction on the part of operators. Let us all pray to God Almighty for help, and at the same time let also all our people stand up to what is right and stand against to what is wrong – and God will surely come to our assistance.
‘’The government also needs to be prudent, cut off these unnecessary almost constant travels in which huge amounts are expected supporting lavish lifestyle, collecting of unmerited Awards, etc all at the expense of the state,’’ he stressed.
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