Workers in some states of the federation are currently groaning under hardship occasioned by salary cuts and rationed salaries amid inflation and general economic hardship in the country.
Daily Trust findings revealed that the most heavily hit are teachers and workers at the local governments.
The pay cut is biting hard on the workers even as transportation fare has gone up and purchasing power of their earning dwindle amid biting inflation occasioned by continued fall of Naira at the exchange market.
In Kano, civil servants and political appointees suffered cuts in their February salaries with many of them spoken to by Daily Trust admitting that the cut had further plunged them into untold hardship, especially with the increasing cost of almost all commodities in the country.
The state’s chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had kicked against the slash in February salaries before payment began with its Chairman, Kabiru Ado Minjibir, revealing that the labour leaders were told that the state got N5.4 billion as federal allocation for January as against the N6.99 billion distributed for December 2021.
He said it was on that basis that the government “Resorted to paying workers using the template of April 2021 where a percentage was deducted from workers’ pay while local government workers were paid the N18,000 minimum wage”.
But reacting in a chat with Daily Trust, the states Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, said it was not true that the state government reverted to the old minimum wage.
He explained that workers and political appointees only received lesser than their usual salary because of the shortfall in federal allocation and internally generated revenue.
Garba said the state Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was one of the most committed governors to the N30,000 minimum wage and even added N600 for Kano workers.
He assured that immediately there was an improvement in federal allocations and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), the state government would continue to pay N30,600 minimum wage, appealing to the workers and labour unions to bear with the government.
Daily Trust, however, gathered that Jigawa and Katsina, the two states neighbouring Kano, paid their worker’s full salaries for the month of February.
Most of the monthly payments were also done through percentage payments.
Adeleye said labour meets with the government monthly where they cross-check what is on the table before the payment is done
He said last month, the state got N2.6 billion from the federation account, which also suffered a N700 million deduction.
“If the state government was to pay November salary and they have 70 per cent, they will have to balance the 30 per cent the next month before they go to another month; that is the formula.”
https://dailytrust.com/workers-groan-as-states-cut-salaries-amid-inflation
