Governor Uba Sani has begun the implementation of the National Minimum Wage Act in Kaduna and expressed his displeasure towards NLC.
In a statement, the Kaduna governor’s spokesman, Ibraheem Musa, said, “It is unfair to lump the state with some others yet to do so.”
Mr Musa added that NLC’s lumping of Kaduna with others was grossly unfair because the least paid worker received N72,000 as gross salary in the month of November.
‘’The executive governor of Kaduna state has complied with the spirit and letter of the National Minimum Wage Law by paying the lowest paid civil servant N72,000 last month. ’NLC is harping on the issue of consequential adjustment, but the labour body should realise that there is a difference between salary increment and Minimum Wage,’’ Mr Musa explained.
He went on to disclose that Kaduna State receives an average of N8 billion from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in Abuja every month.
“The state also generates around N4 billion monthly. That translates to N12 billion in revenue monthly. But, the monthly wage bill in the state has jumped from N5.4 billion to N6.3 billion with the implementation of the Minimum Wage last month.
“There is also the deduction of N4 billion for loan payments every month. So, the wage bill and the deductions have gulped over N10 million out of the total N12 billion revenue.
“That leaves only N2 billion for rural transformation, overhauling the health sector, revamping education and providing dividends of democracy to the people of Kaduna State,’’ Mr Musa said.
After paying the mandatory minimum wage, he contended that it would be unfair for the Kaduna government to spend almost all its revenue on consequential adjustments.
‘’There are over 10 million people who are also entitled to the accrued revenue of Kaduna state. There are 84,827 civil servants in the state. So, it is unreasonable for the government to spend over 90 per cent of its revenue on just about one per cent of the population,‘’ the governor’s spokesman pointed out.
(NAN)
