Bayelsa NLC Welcomes N80,000 Wage For LG Workers

The Bayelsa State government has approved the payment of N80,000 as minimum wage for staff of the local government council.

The approval came after pressure from the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress.

The government also assured the workers that it would add to the December salaries the differentials that would arise from the ongoing discussion on the template used in paying the new minimum wage in November.

The Acting Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, made this known at a meeting with the state minimum wage implementation committee and chairmen of the eight local government areas in the state, at the Government House, on Tuesday.

The meeting had in attendance representatives of the NLC, TUC, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, Nigerian Union of Teachers and Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, among others.

Ewhrudjakpo urged labour to come up with their computation and harmonise the same with the state team to enable the payment of the differentials in the consequential adjustment alongside the December salaries.

He said the decision to pay the new minimum wage to council workers was unanimously agreed upon by all the critical stakeholders, including the local government chairmen.

On the issue of the Federal Government circular calling for the increment of pensioners’ remuneration, the acting governor said the government had already approved a N10,000 increase for pensioners across the board.

He said the state government could not adopt the Federal Government’s template for the implementation of the new minimum wage to workers due to its financial capacity.

He assured civil servants of the government’s commitment to their welfare, adding that Bayelsa was already paying a more competitive wage than most states in the South-South in particular and the country at large.

His words: “Firstly, we have agreed that the minimum wage for the local government workers should also be N80,000.

“Now the difference is the consequential adjustment which we think that we cannot use the Federal Government’s consequential adjustment, because the Federal Government’s rates are higher.

“Secondly, the Federal Government has ways and means, but both state and local governments do not have such powers.

“So, as we go for the consequential adjustment, we will look at what we can carry, and I need all of us to put the survival of Bayelsa State and our councils at the back of our minds as we negotiate.

“We should not fail to understand that the resources that come to the state or local government areas are not meant for those of us who are politicians and civil servants alone.”

The acting governor said politicians and civil servants earning salaries in the state constituted about 15 per cent of the population.

“The majority of our people earn social services such as health facilities, education, security, roads, bridges and other amenities that are also being provided from those same resources. So, I really want to appeal to labour to show understanding,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of organised labour, the state NLC chairman, Simon Barnabas, thanked the government for approving the new minimum wage for workers in the state.

Barnabas, however, called on the government to adopt the Federal Government’s template for the consequential adjustment as well as approve N32,000 increment for pensioners as contained in the recent Federal Government circular.