A 13-man Minimum Wage implementation Committee has been set up by the Kwara state government to proffer modalities for the implementation of the new minimum wage act.
The committee which is expected to give recommendations that would assist in the implementation has three weeks to work and give the government direction.
Kayode Alabi, the state’s Deputy Governor, represented Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq where he noted that the last time wage was reviewed in the country was in 2011.
He said that it was evident that a review was necessary despite the prevailing economic challenges.
AbdulRazaq charged members of the committee to be patriotic in handling the assignment and look at ways of domesticating the minimum wage Act not to have adverse effects on the developmental plans geared towards building and repositioning the economy of the state and also not erode the envisaged gains the workers crave for.
“As a government, we are mindful of the fact that the expectations of the workers are high, the government is therefore poised to attend to this matter with all seriousness and fairness,” he said.
He said, “The cardinal interest of the committee, the generality of the workers, the organised labour and the entire populace of the state should be about the growth of Kwara”.
He called on the committee to identify new sources of revenue and take into cognisance of the existing expenditure from where some savings could be made in order to mop up funds that would be channelled towards funding the wage increase.
The governor listed five terms of reference which included the immediate and remote circumstance surrounding the agitation of the civil servants for the payment of N30,000.00 minimum wage in Kwara, the actual rate being paid presently.
“The ability of the state government to pay the wage to the civil servants in view of the prevailing economic realities at both federal and state levels, the financial implication and sustainability of paying the wage by the state government and any other recommendation/observation that could assist the government in taking a realistic position on the agitation of civil servants,” he said.
Responding on behalf of the members of the committee, the Chairman and state Commissioner for Finance and Planning, Florence Oyeyemi, appreciated the government for giving them the opportunity to serve, promising that they would work assiduously.
She said that members of the committee were drawn from the government and various labour unions.
