With agriculture, we can pay N1m as minimum wage — Niger governor

• The governor assured that the new minimum wage would cut across the state and local government civil servants

Mohammed Bago, the governor of Niger State, has stated that the state’s civil servants will be paid a minimum wage of N1 million.

Bago announced on Friday at the government house in Minna a new minimum wage of N80,000 for the state’s workforce.

According to the Governor, who disclosed this following a lengthy meeting with the leadership of the State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the state would pay civil servants N1 million as a result of his agricultural efforts.

Governor Umaru Bago, who fielded questions from newsmen after the meeting, said, “This is very sustainable. N80,000 is sustainable.

We are sure that with our stride in agriculture I am sure we can pay. We are creating civil service farm so that civil servants can be productive. With that, we are sure that we can do both N1 million as minimum wage,” Bago said.

The governor assured that the new minimum wage would cut across the state and local government civil servants, noting, “We have already paid this month’s salary and so it will start in November”.

The Niger State chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Idrees Abdulkareem Lafene, who also spoke with newsmen after the announcement, said he was excited about the development, saying that the governor exceeded his expectations.

“I feel delighted, and at least Niger State is among the top-ranking states to implement a minimum wage,” Lafene said.

The chairman who admitted that the new minimum wage was not commensurate with the prevailing high cost of living in the country, noted that N80,000 cannot buy a bag of rice as of now.

He said, “It is not commensurate with a bag of rice, but at least it is a step forward”.

Lafene also spoke about the labour union emphasizing that the workers should be pleased with the development.

“They have to be pleased because we represent them. I think given what is obtainable in Nigeria, we got a good bargain. The governor outweighed our initial demands.

We were projecting that the governor will give us N70,000, N75,000 or N80,000. The governor took the highest amount of N80,000, and we are grateful to him,” he declared.

The NLC Chairman also pointed out that the state Labour was expecting a lot of things from the government, saying ,”Yes, a lot of things.

If you heard what the governor said, we are starting with N80,000 and we are hoping that probably we will go to N1million that is what the governor said” he concluded.