Rivers rivals Lagos, approves N85,000 minimum wage

… begins payment November, arrears possible

Rivers State has levelled with Lagos in minimum wage approval by awarding N85,000 to workers in the state.

Sim Fubara, governor of the state, met with representatives of the workers union all day in Government House in Port Harcourt today, October 18, 2024, to finalise the matter.

At the end closed door meeting with the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council in the State, the Head of Rivers State Civil Service, George Nwaeke (PhD), spoke on behalf of the Government. He affirmed that Gov Fubara has graciously approved a new minimum wage of N85,000.00, adding that the government would begin in November, 2024.

Read also: Lagos pays N85,000 as minimum wage, targets N100,000 — Sanwo-Olu

Nweke said: “So, as the Head of Service and a major stakeholder in the labour family, I am very happy to say that the Rivers State civil servants have never had it this good since the inception of the state.

“The labour union leaders and all the other major stakeholders were happy with this development,” he added.

Responding to possible payment of arrears, Nwaeke said it is yet to be determined because a technical committee has been set up to critically work out a tenable payment chart, which will cater to issues of arrears.

He clarified, “Issues of arrears will be worked out by the committee that I am going to be Deputy to the SSG. We are already going to work on it in a technical committee that will now get the nitty gritty of the payment and inform the press later.”

On his part, the Rivers State Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, Emecheta Chuku, explained that this is their first meeting with Gov Fubara to discuss the issue of the new minimum wage as approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Chuku pointed to the fact that the gracious approval of N85,000 new minimum wage is very appeasing to the labour leaders, addingvthat it demonstrates love for the workers.

He explained, “For the Governor to come, against all the crisis, against all the things that he is facing and more, to say he will pay N85,000 minimum wage, I think our hearts are full of joy.

“Of course, we have no doubt, knowing the kind of person we have as our Governor. He is a decent man; very responsible enough; and grew through the rank and file of the system. He understands what it takes to earn a living salary; he understands the difference between gifting money and paying somebody salary that can sustain him or her from the first day to the last day of the month.”

Also speaking, the Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Rivers State Chapter, Alex Agwanwor, noted that the amount approved by Gov Fubara argued that the amount approved by Rivers State though same with that of Lagos but for the fact that Rivers gets far lower internally generated revenue, the Rivers amount now carries more weight of sacrifice.

Lagos budgeted over N2 trillion in 2024, whereas Rivers budget for same year is N800bn. “We are the best, and we want to continue to commend the Governor. We assure him that, as far as this State is concerned, labour is going to stand with him. We will be with him even until the next eight years.

“I want to commend His Excellency, Executive Governor of Rivers State, our own Number One Worker in Rivers State. He has, once again, proved that the workers in Rivers State gave him an award on May Day as the Champion of Labour, as the Most Labour-Friendly Governor in Nigeria. He, again, has shown that to us today, and I want to commend him.”