Nigeria

Another PDP governor orders payment of N30,000 minimum wage

Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 5:36 PM by Wale Akinola

- Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state has ordered payment of N30,000 minimum wage

- Federal government had in 2019 approved N30,000 as new minimum wage for workers

- Dickson, however, urged the workers in the state to remain apolitical, disciplined and professional in the discharge of their duties

Seriake Dickson, the Bayelsa state governor, has approved the payment of N30,000 new national minimum wage to workers in the state with effect from the end of January.

Vanguard reports that the governor, who gave the approval on the night of Friday, January 9, during a meeting with the leadership of organised labour in Yenagoa, directed the state’s financial team to follow through the template set by the national wages and income commission in implementing the new salary level.

Legit.ng gathered that Dickson who described the state’s workforce as hard-working, however, stressed the need for the public service to remain apolitical, disciplined and professional in the discharge of its duties.

Read also

Excitement in Edo as Obaseki finally announces payment of minimum wage to workers

He noted that the meeting was convened to enable the state government and the labour unions to jointly work out the modalities for the payment of the new wage in such a way that Bayelsa would not lag behind in its implementation.

Another PDP governor orders payment of N30,000 minimum wage — Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state
Source: Depositphotos

The governor also expressed appreciation to labour unions for their cooperation and understanding especially during the economic recession and urged them to extend the kind gesture to the incoming government with a view to sustaining the prevailing industrial harmony in the state.

He said: “I made you people a commitment that we are not (in principle) opposed to the payment of the N30,000 new national minimum wage. Today, I have made good that promise. Under normal circumstances, there is nothing we pay our hard-working employees that should be considered too much.

“I cannot thank you enough for the support, cooperation, understanding and patriotism you displayed to my administration for the past eight years particularly during the period of the economic recession. My expectation is that the organized labour will extend this understanding and cooperation to the incoming government.”

Read also

Minimum wage: Cross River, Kogi, Taraba top list as NLC draws battle line with 26 states

Speaking on the new minimum wage, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), John Ndiomu and Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Layi Julius, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting.

The labour leaders commended Dickson for fulfilling his promise on the implementation of the new minimum wage and assured workers that the issue of arrears arising from the new payment would be addressed by the incoming government.

They said the implementation of the new wage cuts across all workers in the public service including primary school teachers and local government council workers in the state.

Ndiomu added that the governor also promised to complete the construction of the labour house as well as pay the December salaries of pensioners and workers in tertiary institutions.

The state chairman of the joint public service negotiating council among other labour leaders lauded the governor for approving the payment of the new wage.