By Frank Ulom
The governor of Cross River State, Sen. Bassey Otu, has said the current minimum wage for workers is not enough to cover the level of inflation faced by the country.
Otu stated this on Tuesday while addressing protesting workers in Calabar.
According to the Governor who was ably represented by his deputy, Rt. Hon. Peter Odey, “There is hunger in the land. Of course, we know. We promised to run a ‘People First’ government. If the people are hungry, there is no way this will happen.
“His Excellency, Governor Bassey Otu is not here today. He is in Abuja for the Labour Committee meeting, pushing for government to consider improving worker’s welfare in the country.
“We know that the present minimum wage of workers is not enough to measure us with the level of inflation in the country. Prices of goods are high. Salaries ought to go up, too. That is why as government, we have made sure that the N10,000 palliative is paid to every civil servant.
“We also made sure that the N5,000 Christmas bonus was paid to all civil servants in the State. We have gone ahead to pay WAEC fees for Cross River students preparing for examinations.
“We have done that as a government and will continue to do more. The government of Prince Bassey Otu will take care of the plight of workers.”
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The Governor also called on the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, in the State to support government’s effort towards sanitising the Civil Service, which has left the present administration with a bloated wage bill.
He charged labour leaders to weed out retired workers still occupying government offices in order to create room for the growth of other workers and the employment of new ones.
The Chairman of NLC in the State, Comrade Gregory Olayi, on his part said the workers were protesting over the stark economic realities.
He said workers’ salaries have become grossly inadequate to cater to their households.
The labour leader lauded Governor Otu for the palliative intervention to civil servants in the state, urging the government to do more.
CONVERSEER reports that the current minimum wage in Nigeria per month is N30,000.
The N30,000 monthly minimum wage is not fully implemented across the country and only binds government workers.