Minimum Wage: Gombe LG Workers, Teachers Groan Over Poor Implementation
By Juliet Vincent
Local government workers and teachers under Local Education Authorities (LEA) in Gombe State are groaning over the failure of the government to pay the new minimum wage as promised.
It would be recalled that the state government had officially approved a new minimum wage of N71,451.15 for state civil servants and local government employees.
This development followed the conclusion of negotiations between the government and organised labour, which resolved that lowest-paid workers in the state will earn the new national minimum wage.
However, LG workers and teachers under the LEAs were left in utmost shock as they began to receive their October salaries last night.
While they wait for a solid 10 days into November without the last October salaries, hopeful of getting the approved N71,451.15 minimum wage, the LG employees and primary school teachers end up receiving the old minimum wage with a little increment.
Investigation by DAYLIGHT REPORTERS show that the government made a flat increment of N12,000 above the old pay of the LG workers and primary school teachers.
A worker in Gombe LGA, who spoke to our reporter on the condition of anonymity, revealed that he received N43,850, an increment of N11,850 above his September salary.
“What I received was nothing close to the new minimum wage. My salary was N32,000. When the governor added N10,000 to us as palliative to cushion the effect of subsidy removal, it rose to N42,000. When the talk of the new minimum wage began, the governor stopped paying that N10,000. Last night, I saw N43,850 as my October salaries. This is not the minimum wage that was promised to us. But we will wait to hear from them,” he said.
Another primary school teacher in Gombe LGA who don’t want his name to be mentioned narrated that he “received N48,000 as against N36,000 he received in September.
He added, “They promised us N71,000 minimum wage and delayed the payment for about 2weeks, but they paid us the old wage with a small increment. We don’t know whether it is the N10,000 palliative they reintroduced or that this is the minimum wage.”
