By Umar Salam.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, has approved the implementation of the new national minimum wage and consequential adjustments to civil servants from 1st September, 2019.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media & Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, made the disclosure today while addressing newsmen in Kaduna.
He said: “The Executive Council meeting, chaired by Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, the Deputy Governor, noted the commitment of Governor Nasir El-Rufai to strengthen the public service and its capacity to deliver quality and responsive public service.
“The council deliberated on the minimum wage memo and unanimously approved commencement of the implementation in September 2019.”
Adekeye added that the Executive Council had earlier deliberated on the sustainability of improving the salaries of civil servants in the state but lamented it would increase the wage bill by almost N1bn monthly.
The state government, however decided to expand and deepen revenue sources and collections.
“Guided by the twin principles of ability to pay and sustainability, the government considered several scenarios, bearing in mind the trend of internally generated revenues and allocations from the federation account.
“Several salary scenarios were considered, and one option was identified as most prudent. A final decision was suspended as negotiations for a new national minimum wage appeared to gather momentum.
“It was reactivated after the Federal Government announced the new national minimum wage in April 2019.
“This almost N1bn monthly increase in the wage bill means that salary and pension commitments will take the lion’s share of state government expenditure. Meeting these salary obligations while meeting development objectives for citizens will further raise the pressure to expand and deepen revenue sources and collections,” the governor’s spokesman explained in the statement.
According to the new wage structure approved by the state government, the least-paid workers in the civil service enjoy increments of as much as 67 per cent, while middle-ranking officers from Grade 10 to 14 were awarded increments of 60 per cent.