By Kelechi David
Due to the drop in federal allocation, the Kano State Government says it is reverting to the N18,000 old wage to pay its workers for March.
The State Commissioner of Information, Muhammad Garba, who gave the information in a statement said that the present financial situation made it difficult for the government to implement the new salary package.
According to him, given the present financial situation, the government would find it difficult to implement the consolidated salary for March, which is though a temporary measure.
He said that Kano State government had never dithered in the payment of workers’ salary since its inception.
Saying the drop in federal allocation for the period under review has made it difficult for the government to implement the new salary package, the Commissioner pointed out that for March, the state government received a total allocation of N12, 400, 000, 000 billion from the federation account, out of which the state collected N6, 100, 000, 000, 000 billion, while the 44 local governments collected the sum of N6, 300, 000, 000 billion.
He said, for the state government to pay the consolidated wages to its workers, it needs additional billions of naira which is currently not available.
To this end, Garba urged the labour unions in the state to shelve its proposed strike over the matter.
He pointed out that at its meeting with the labor union in May 2020, there was an understanding that government would pay workers’ salaries based on a percentage of the total disbursement received.
Garba recalled that in November/December, last year, a similar necessary but temporary measure was adopted in the payment of workers’ salary as a result of the shortage to keep the government going which was, however, reversed for January and February, after the situation improved.
The commissioner recalled that Kano was the first among the few states in the federation to agree to the implementation of the minimum wage without any hesitation which should have been put into consideration by the organized labour.
He noted that given the situation, the organised labour should reason with the government because embarking on strike won’t in any way solve the problem.
Garba passionately enlisted the support and cooperation of the labor unlabored the entire workforce in general to maintain a good working relationship with the government in the interest of industrial harmony.
The Commissioner however assured workers in the state that they would continue to receive the new package as soon as the situation improves.
