Gombe State Government To Implement N70,000 Minimum Wage In October

The Gombe State Government has announced that it will begin implementing the N70, 000 minimum wage for state and local government civil servants starting this October.

The decision was reached after extensive discussions between the government and labour representatives, Chaired by Deputy Governor Dr. Manassah Daniel Jatau.

Dr. Jatau explained that the committee had been waiting for the Federal Government’s payment template before proceeding and that once the template was approved, the committee followed suit and deliberated with stakeholders before reaching the decision.

“There is a time-lag between government policies and receiving the official instrument for implementation. Now that we have the guideline, we can proceed,” Dr. Jatau said.

He said a technical committee, led by the Commissioner of Finance, Mr. Muhammad Gambo Magaji, had been given 72 hours to finalize the payment modalities and a final report would be issued once the technical team had completed its deliberations.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in Gombe State, Mr. Aish Bello, confirmed that the N70,000 minimum wage would be paid starting in October.

He noted that various payment tables were reviewed and to be used by the technical committee to finalize the structure within the 72-hour period.

Bello reassured civil servants that the wage implementation would begin this month.

The Chairman of the standing committees, Dr. Jatau said no arrears would be paid due to financial constraints, while the salary scale for Gombe State University staff would not be discussed at the forum of the minimum wage for other civil servants.

Olusola Akintonde