From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna
The Niger state government has appealed to Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to embraced dialogue and understanding by calling off its on going strike by returning to negotiation table for the peace, development and growth of the state.
Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Zakari Abubakar made the appeal while speaking to journalists yesterday in Minna, saying that the situation us temporary.
“This is not the best of times for government and is also not the best of times for Labour. Government has not relented on reaching out for Labour. We are looking at issues raised by labour and we hope for amicable resolution” he stated.
He explained that the deferred part payment of salary of the civil servants was not deliberate but due to dwindling economy that impacted on the FAC and state IGR caused by the effect of Covid -19 in the global economy.
Zakari Abubakar maintained that the present administration led by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello is passionate about the welfare and wellbeing of its workforce, hence the implementation of 30% minimum wage, consequential salary adjustment, new pension scale and Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
He explained that the state received N4.41b from federation allocation last month while the state wage bill is N3.1 billion, N485m for pension payment and over N500m for contractual obligations.
Abubakar further stated that the state government started argumentation since September but currently needs about N1.130 billion to make up the required just as a sum of N5.94 billion needed on monthly bases for recurrent expenditure of the state.
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