Laleye Dipo in Minna
The Niger State Government yesterday began the payment of N20,000 wage award to its workers
THISDAY learnt that most workers received the alert confirming the payment from 4p.m.
The payment is in line with the agreement reached between the officials of the Organised Labour and the government which led to the calling off of an industrial action declared by the Labour after 24hours.
It was learnt that in line with the agreement, workers in the local government areas will receive their wage award from today, while the payment for pensioners will follow subsequently.
Some civil servants, who received the alert, however, said they received less than N20,000 because the banks deducted between N1000 and N900 from the amount.
When contacted, the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Idrees Lafene, confirmed that his members have started receiving the money, but said it fell short of what we agreed on.
“We agreed on N35,000, and it was the governor that wrote N20,000 we are collecting and will do the needful soon,” Lafene said
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had last Monday pleaded with state governors to pay the N30,000 wage award to remove the financial burden from the shoulders of their workers.
Tinubu said emphatically that with the resources available to all the states of the federation, they are in a position to pay the N30,000 wage award and the existing salaries of their workers, insisting that: “I am not giving you order, I am only appealing to you all the sub-nationals, whatever the civil servants are taking now, and the wage award, it will bring relief to the people.”
