The Kaduna State Executive Council has risen from its Monday meeting to approve that payment of the new national minimum wage and consequential adjustments to civil servants begins from 1st September, 2019.
The Executive Council meeting, chaired by the deputy governor, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, noted the commitment of Governor Nasir el-Rufai to strengthen the public service and its capacity to deliver quality and responsive public service.
The council according to a statement issued Special Adviser to the governor on Media & Communications, Muyiwa Adekeye, deliberated on the minimum wage memo and unanimously approved commencement of the implementation in September 2019.
According to Adekeye, “The Executive Council stated it’s that commitment to the public service includes a desire to improve the standard of living of workers in the state.
“Pursuant to that, the Kaduna State Government launched a pay review process early in 2018.
“A cabinet committee was charged with exploring how the Kaduna State Government can sustainably improve public sector salaries.
“Guided by the twin principles of ability to pay and sustainability, the government considered several scenarios, bearing in mind the trend of internally generated revenues and allocations from the federation account.
“Several salary scenarios were considered, and one option was identified as most prudent.
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“A final decision was suspended as negotiations for a new national minimum wage appeared to gather momentum.
“It was reactivated after the Federal Government announced the new national minimum wage in April 2019.
“Paying the new national minimum wage and consequential adjustments will increase the wage bill of the Kaduna State Government by 33 per cent. Gross monthly salary outlay will rise to N3.759 billion from the current N2.827 billion.
“This almost N1 billion monthly increase in the wage bill means that salary and pension commitments will take the lion’s share of state government expenditure.
“Meeting these salary obligations while meeting development objectives for citizens will further raise the pressure to expand and deepen revenue sources and collections.
“According to the new wage structure, the lowest paid workers in the civil service enjoyed increments of as much as 67%. Middle-ranking officers from Grade 10 to 14 were awarded increments of 60%,” he said.