Jubilation as Nigerian governor orders immediate payment of minimum wage

- Sokoto workers will be receiving the new N30,000 minimum wage from January 2020 

- The order for implementation came from the state governor, Aminu Tambuwal 

- The governor also promised to pay the workers owed backlogs of salaries 

The governor of Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwal, on Friday, January 10, ordered the immediate commencement of the implementation of the N30,000 new minimum wage to workers in the state. Tambuwal ordered that the implementation of the new wage to the civil servants should start with the January 2020 salary payment to them. 



The governor also asked for immediate verification of the workers so as to clear the workforce of ghost workers. 

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor issued the directives when he received the report of the committee constituted by the state government on the implementation of the new minimum wage and consequential adjustments.

"Verification of unscheduled staff and the sharp practise of sale of offer letters of employment to unwary citizens and a situation where children are on the payroll of the government will not be condoned.

"Prior to the negotiation that ushered the new wage regime, the state government had discovered a disparity in the salary data between the state civil service commission, the ministry of finance and the office of the head of service," the governor said, adding that steps were taken to harmonise the data, part of which was introducing the issuance of payslips to workers.

Tambuwal promised to pay the workers owed backlogs of salaries as a result of what he called a meticulous process of the fiscal discipline measures embarked upon by the government.

With the implementation of the new wage, he said the state's wage bill will now be N340 million against the previous N324 million and that this is based on the committee’s findings.