Governor Sule approves N70,500 new minimum wage for Nasarawa workers as labour tenders apology over false accusations

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By Muhammed Ogwu, Lafia

The Nasarawa State Committee on the new Minimum Wage has disclosed that the government as approved N70,500 as the minimum wage for workers in the state.

Chairman of the committee, who also double as Deputy Governor of the state, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe disclosed this during a meeting with members of the committee to finalize discussions on the matter in Lafia, the state capital.

While appreciating the state NLC for its corporation and understanding, the deputy governor assured the organized labour of government’s willingness to work out modalities that will address the concerns raised by local government councils, pensioners and tertiary institutions in the state.

Acting Chairman of the Joint Negotiating Council, Jatau David-Polang and the state NLC Chairman, Ayuba Oko noted that the new table followed extensive study of all templates brought forward to the technical sub-committee on the minimum wage, saying their resolve to adopt the seventy thousand, five hundred naira was to ensure sustainability in the payment.

The labour leaders, however appealed to the government to s a matter of fact to fastrack all processes leading to its successful implementation.

Meanwhile, Dr. Akabe had earlier blasted the leadership of the organiser labour in the state for false accusations against him for not submitting report of the new national minimum wage to Governor Abdullahi Sule for onwards implementation.

Dr. Akabe, who said the leadership of the organised labour in the state was not fair to the present administration in-spite of efforts being made to ensure prompt implementation of the new minimum wage and tackling other sundry matters of concern of civil servants, noted that the allegations contained in a memo to the government against his personality and that of Governor Sule was unacceptable and it was uncalled for.

According the deputy governor, there was no way the government would have taken a decision on the matter with out carefully studying the report submitted by the technical sub-committee on the new National Minimum Wage, which requires the Governor to make necessary consultations before taking action, reiterating that the governor has since demonstrated political will to domesticate the new law.

He added that one of the main reasons for the delay in its implementation was the sympathy the government has for local council chairmen who may face difficulty in paying salaries of their personnel and expressed optimism that the issue will be sorted out in due course, just as he presented a new template for the labour side to study and delibrate upon.

In their separate submission on the matter, the state Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Labaran Magaji and the Accountant general of the state, Dr Musa Ahmed-Mohammed affirmed that the accusations against the government on refusal to implement the new minimum wage were misplaced, calling on the labour leaders to be sincere and civil in their conduct.

The dou urged the labour body to as a matter of urgency to tender an unreserved apology to the deputy governor and governor Abdullahi Sule for the choice of words in its recent letter to the government, enjoined the NLC to align and realign its position in line with the principles of purposeful dialogue to guarantee seamless cordiality between both sides of the negotiation table.

The duo said, “We want to use this medium to direct the labour body to as a matter of urgency and tender an unreserved apology to the deputy governor and governor Abdullahi Sule for the choice of words in its recent letter to the government.”

Responding in the affirmative, State Chairman of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Oko tendered unreserved apology on behalf of workers in the state to the Deputy Governor Dr. Akabe and Governor Sule for NLC choice of words in its recent letter to the government for accusing the deputy governor for not submitting the report on the national minimum wage to governor for onwards implementation.

Oko, while acknowledging that their position was in the best interest of both the government and workers in the state said the action taken by organized labour in the state was in view of the directive of the national body to proceed on strike this Monday.

He, however, sued for understanding from the government and appealed for expedite action on the implementation of the new National Minimum Wage in the state.

His words, “NLC sincerely want to use this medium on behalf of its workers in the state to tender it unreserved apology to the state deputy governor Dr Emmanuel Akabe and Governor Abdullahi Sule on its recent letter addressing to the government accusing the deputy governor for his ability to submit the report of the new national minimum wage to Governor Abdullahi Sule for onwards implementation.”