Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El-Rufia will commence the payment of the new minimum wage of N30,000 to the employees of the Kaduna State Government from in September, August, 2019.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier approved N30,000 as the minimum workers can earn in the country.

Rising from today’s meeting of the Kaduna State Executive Council, chaired by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, the implementation of the new minimum wage structure in the state was approve to  begin from 1st September, 2019.

The Deputy Governor, noted the commitment of Governor Nasir El-Rufai to strengthen the public service and its capacity to deliver quality and responsive public service, was the reason behind the prompt implementation.

“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. 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.

“This almost N1bn 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%,” She said.