Kaduna Commences Payment of N72,000 Minimum Wage

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government said it has commenced the implementation of N72,000 minimum wage in the state.

The government, however, faulted claims by the state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) that it failed to implement the wage.

The NLC had in a statement on Friday, threatened to embark on strike over alleged failure by the state government to pay the new wage.

But in a statement yesterday by the spokesperson to Governor Uba Sani of the state, Ibraheem Musa, dismissed claims by the NLC, saying the state government had commenced payment of the new regime.

Musa frowned at  NLC’s lumping of Kaduna State with other states that had not implemented the new wage, saying  it is “grossly unfair because the least paid worker in Kaduna received N72,000 as gross salary in the month of November.’’

The statement said, “His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani, has complied with the spirit and letter of the National Minimum Wage Law, by paying the lowest paid civil servant N72,000 last month.

“NLC is harping on the issue of consequential adjustment, but the labour body should realise that there is a difference between salary increment and minimum wage.

“Kaduna State receives an average of N8 billion from Federal Account Allocation Committee(FAAC) from the centre every month. It also generates around N4 bn monthly. That translates to N12 billion revenue monthly.

“However, the monthly wage bill has jumped from N5.4 billion to N6.3 billion with the implementation of the minimum wage last month.

“There is also the deduction of N4 billion for  loan payment every month. So, the wage bill and the deduction have gulped over  N10 million out of the total N12 billion revenue.

“That leaves  only N2 billion for rural transformation, overhauling the health sector, revamping education and providing dividends of democracy to the people of Kaduna state.

“The statement maintained that it would be unfair for the Kaduna state government to spend almost all its revenue on consequential adjustments after paying the mandatory minimum wage.”