Sokoto State has approved the full implementation of Nigeria’s minimum wage law, in a development that would see the least-ranking state workers receive N30,000 from as early as January, Sokoto’s Commissioner of Information has said.
State workers across levels will also enjoy an increase in wages following authorizations from Sokoto State Executive Council for the full implementation of national new minimum wage and consequential adjustment to state civil servants.
Isah Bajini Galadanci, the state Commissioner of Information, stated this while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the state executive council meeting held at the Council Chamber, Government House, Sokoto.
The council approved all the recommendations of the joint committee between labour unions and the state government implementation committee, Isah said.
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He also explained that the implementation of the new minimum wage will take effect at the end of January 2020.
The sum of N30,000 naira minimum wage has been approved to be paid to staff on levels 1-6 while those on levels 7-8 will have 22 percent increase and those on levels 9-10 will have 17 percent increase, Sokoto state Head of Service, Buhari Bello Kware, said.
Kware added that the state government staff on levels 12-14 will have 12 percent raise while those on level 15 and above will have 9 percent increment.
The head of service used the opportunity to thank the governor for his magnanimous gesture and called on the civil servants in the state to reciprocate the gesture by being more dedicated to service.
President Muhammadu Buhari in April last year signed into law a new minimum wage law that raised monthly pay to N30,000 from 18,000.
The minimum wage law was praised by policy analysts and economists, who said the law would put more money in the hands of Nigerians, many of whom live below $2 a day.
In a statement, the state earlier this year said it would sanitize its payroll to remove ghost and illegal workers, while it promised to harmonize its records and pay all salaries owed.
The new wage law would raise the State’s wage bill to N340 million.
Some of Sokoto state commissioners at the briefing include the state Commissioner of Finance Abdul Samad Dasuki and his Social Welfare counterpart, Hajiya Aishatu Madawaki Isah.
