Niger Approves N20,000 Wage Award for Workers

Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Niger State Government has approved a N20,000 monthly wage award for its workers effective from March 2024.

The approval is part of the agreement reached between the leadership of the organised labour and the state government at a meeting held at the Government House which led to the resolution of of the dispute between the workers and the government.

The agreement, a copy of which was made available to THISDAY, did not specify how long the wage award will last.

The nine-point agreement stipulates that all outstanding leave grant from 2019 shall be paid in batches from April to December but disclosed that “the payment of annual leave grant is abolished forthwith starting from March 2024”.

According to the document, “The component for liability of Cooperatives put at N248,782,702.55 shall be paid in 5 instalments from March 2024, while the component for FMBN which is N656,213,286.76 for state and N683,111,247,31 for LGAs shall be paid in instalments of N100,000,000 monthly from June 2024.”

The meeting, according to the document, agreed that refunds of 10% Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) to exempted workers in the local government areas shall be paid in three instalments, according to zones, while the consequential adjustments for TSSU implementation will commence after the ongoing verification by Niger State government and the organised labour.

On establishment matters, it was agreed that a tripartite committee comprising representatives of the Niger State House of Assembly, the Executive  and the organized labour “shall be put in place to look at the laws and proffer recommendations to government”.

The meeting agreed that organized labour shall suspend its strike and that no civil servant in the state and local government will be victimized as a result of their participation in the strike.

Meanwhile, work resumed in all public offices on Thursday after the leadership of the organized labour called off the strike.