The implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage has caused the Kwara state government extra N241million on workers monthly salary.
The state Head of Service (HOS), Alhaji Dabarako Mohammed who disclosed this in Ilorin, the state capital, yesterday, said that the state had implemented what the provisions of the new minimum wage law stipulated.
?
He said this during a special radio programme anchored by the state owned Radio.
Mohammed who said that the N241million was an upward review of the N200million his office recommended to the state Governor, Alhaji AbdulFatah Ahmed as the cost of implementing the new salary regime, foreclosed further upward review of workers pay.
He said “the law says?? any employer of labour who has up to 50 workers must not pay any one less than N18,000 and in Kwara today the minimum wage is fixed at N18,300. Therefore, we have obeyed the law by placing every worker in the state above N18,000 monthly.
?“The minimum wage law only cares for officers on grade level one step one. Anybody above this level, this law cares less about them. This is our interpretation of the new minimum wage law.”
The HOS explained further that officers between grade levels one and ten in the state are enjoying the full benefit of the new law, while other categories of workers have their salaries increased by 30 per cent.
He reminded those agitating for a blanket implementation of the minimum wage law “that there is always the application of the principle of sliding scale when salaries are increased.
“The best practice in the world is to obey the law. We have obeyed the law as far as the minimum wage issue is concerned. We must do things in such a way that will ensure that no worker goes out of work.”
?
Mohammed disclosed further that for the first time in the history of Kwara state pensioners, totaling 11,000 and government parastatals were being catered for in the implementation of the new salary structure.
He urged the workers to appreciate the good gesture of Governor Ahmed, pointing out that only seven states of the federation had so far issued circular on the new salary structure.
He added that the efforts of the state government would be more appreciated “if one comes to term with the reality that Kwara state is 31st in the federal allocation table. The workers should bear with the state government until there is an upward review of the federal statutory allocations to states and local governments across the country.”
?