Why we didn’t implement new minimum wage – Yari

Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State yesterday attributed the non-implementation of new minimum wage by his administration to the failure of the State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to give the true figure of the local government workforce.

Governor Yari who spoke through his Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment, Media and Communication, Alhaji Ibrahim Dosara, said, “We told the NLC officials during a meeting preceding May Day, that we were ready to pay the local government workers’ minimum wage. However, the reports of several committees set up by the government to verify the actual workforce in the local government service showed that the figure was quadrupled.”

He said an agreement was reached between the government and the NLC to take over the verification exercise and get the actual figure, then submit for the implementation of minimum wage at the local level but there was no positive response from the NLC in that regard.

“A total figure of 36, 000 workers was presented to the governor at the time we wanted to commence the implementation of the minimum wage at the local level, but after thorough investigations, it was discovered that this figure was unacceptable, as it consisted of married women who were not going to work, babies and children who have not even gone to primary school, retired personnel and ghost workers, all presented as active local government service workers,” he said.