Okogie urges slash in lawmakers’ pay
THE implementation of the new minimum wage was kept on the front-burner at the weekend as more states offered to pay it to their workers.
For the Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum and Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, the zone’s governors will pay the N18,000 statutory minimum wage.
Obi, who spoke to journalists yesterday in Umuahia, Abia State capital at the end of the Anambra State lawmakers’ retreat, said that the zone’s stand on the new wage did not seem to have been given the coverage it deserved, especially as the zone’s Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) did not congratulate them.
And while the Kwara State government offered to pay the new wage, its Ondo State counterpart explained why it acceded to workers’ demand. But the Plateau State government may not be able to pay the new wage.
Also, the National Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Bisi Akande, yesterday allayed fears by workers in the South-West, saying the minimum wage issue was a legal matter that must be respected by the ACN-controlled states.
According to him, the ACN, which has great respect for the rule of law, will not disappoint the workers, insisting that as a responsible party, the states must pay the controversial wage to demonstrate good examples to others.
He spoke at his country home, Ila-Orangun, yesterday shortly after he was given an award for meritorious community service by the Osun North East Anglican Diocese.
The occasion was witnessed by the Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, his counterparty from Oyo State, Isiaka Ajimobi and Osun State Deputy Governor, Otunba Titi Laoye-Tomori.
His words: “Minimum wage is a matter of law and all laws must be obeyed. Only lawless people will refuse to obey the law and as a political party, we have instructed, we have directed our governors not to join any lawlessness and we have asked them to go and pay the minimum wage of N18,000.”
For the Federal Government to be able to pay the new wage, the Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, has advocated a reduction of lawmakers’ remunerations.
Speaking yesterday at the end of his three-day canonical visit to the Catholic Church of the Resurrection, Magodo, Lagos, Okogie said if the government meant to pay the minimum wage of N18,000, then it should cut down on the fat salaries and allowances of the members of the National Assembly.
He said: “When you look at the take home pay of those members of House of Representatives and the Senate, including the so-called allowances given to the governors, one would come to the conclusion that there is no way the government can meet up with the payment of the minimum wage.
“Firstly, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate are unnecessarily draining the treasury of the government at the expense of other Nigerians with the amount of money they are carting away, which can never make it possible to pay the minimum wage.
“Secondly, the inequality in the disbursement of allocation to various states on the excuse that those states where oil is produced should receive more than other states is not tenable because land belongs to God.
“I have spoken to not less than six governors who declared that they would not be able to pay and even Lagos State that many people think is rich has been living on borrowed money to execute some of the laudable programmes it is executing. People should not think it is only the tax-payers’ money that the Lagos State government is depending on because I have the fact as I am very close to the government. ”
Dr. Okogie said cutting down on the take-home pay and allowances of the lawmakers would discourage many people from going into politics because according to him, what is attracting them is the money that they see there and there has never been a report of lawmakers fighting for the poor but only for themselves.
“I even read of about N5 billion they packaged into the budget they wanted the President to sign just for themselves. What a nation this is?” he asked.
The Cardinal asserted that there was money in the country that was enough to go round every Nigerian and make an average citizen comfortable but unfortunately, the money was in the hand of few Nigerians.
On the issue of security in the nation, Okogie called on the Federal Government to be serious and know that if Boko Haram could attack Police Headquarters in Abuja, that showed the poor security in the country.
He seems to support the position of the United States, the European Union and other western powers, which urged the Federal Government not to go into negotiation with members of the sect as this would be a bad precedent.
He said by negotiating with them, others would come up who also would ask for negotiation.
On the issue of a sovereign national conference, His Eminence said it was necessary if the Federal Government would be able to implement what comes out of it.
According to Governor Obi, “we pleaded with the Federal Government to review what we receive here. A newspaper report stated that a particular state receives 20 per cent revenue more than the entire five South-East states put together. And they expect us to pay same wage as this particular state.
“Our stand is that we will pay the N18,000 but looking at the relativity of our income. If I pay this N18,000, it is going to be 100 per cent increase. Going by the reality of our income, we can’t do this. Some states have accepted to pay N14,000 of this N18,000 statutory minimum wage.”
Obi was also asked why he attended the retreat for lawmakers, the choice of Abia for it and its expected impact on Anambra State governance.
He said: “The weekend retreat was for the House members. But going by the way we work in Anambra State, I, as the governor, had to join them.
“We chose to come to Abia State to be able to show people that we can enjoy the confines and comfort of such a retreat in the state and show that Abia is very safe. We have been here for three days and had no incident and we enjoyed ourselves, had good times socializing with the people and by so doing, impacting on building a better South-East and Ndigbo as well as helping us in building a better Nigeria.”
According to him, from what was “learnt in the retreat, we will be able to use it for better governance of Anambra State and be able to contribute in building a better South-East and Nigeria, which is one of the reasons for the retreat.”
He said that the challenge had been how the zone should work together in unity, pleading with anybody or group who knew where the zone could raise money to let them know, saying “we will be glad to go there.”
The Ondo State government yesterday explained that its decision to start the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage to its workers was part of its commitment to the welfare of its workers.
The state Information Commissioner, Mr. Ranti Akerele, also debunked insinuations that the development was due to pressure mounted on it by a particular political party, saying that all the state government did was to submit to the will of the law and its commitment to the advancement of its workforce being the only Labour Party (LP) government in the country.
His words: “Mr. Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, consulted widely with various stakeholders in the state and acted on the advice of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of the state. Mr. Governor was informed of the need to be obedient to the Act given the provisions therein. We also as a Labour Party government vis-Ã -vis our avowed commitment to the welfare of our workers in the state, decided to ensure that we do our best for them and ensure that they are happy at all times. And we are gratified by the outpour of spontaneous joy and goodwill that has continued to greet the decision by the government ever since the arrangement” was agreed to by the governor.”
Meanwhile, Kwara State governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, has assured that the state government will implement the new minimum wage of N18,000 for its workforce, just as he advocated a review of the current revenue allocation formula in the country.
The governor, who gave the assurance at the weekend in Ilorin during an interactive session with journalists, said the new minimum wage was desirable for the Nigerian workers.
He described the new minimum wage as one of the best things that had happened recently in Nigeria.
The state government, Ahmed noted, already had a workable platform to implement the minimum wage for its workers, adding that government was still working on the modality of its implementation.
The governor, however, called on the Federal Government to urgently review the current revenue sharing formula so that states and local councils would be financially buoyant to pay the new wage without an adverse effect on any of its services.
“N18,000 minimum wage is desirable for the Nigerian workers or even more but we should first look at the capacity of each state to pay vis-a-vis the revenue allocation”, the governor stated.
According to him, the average monthly allocation to the state from the Federation Account was N2.3 billion with salaries taking about N1.2 billion, pointing out that with the new minimum wage, average monthly wage bill was expected to rise to about N2.1 billion.
What this portends in effect, the governor argued, was that there would be less money to carry on with other aspects of development, a situation, which he said, was unacceptable, hence the urgent need by the Federal Government to augment.
He, therefore, expressed government’s appreciation to the leadership of the Labour union and the entire civil servants in the state for their patience and understanding on the issue of minimum wage, assuring that it was promptly being addressed.
But the Plateau chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) has said that its members cannot pay the N18,000 minimum wage with the current revenue allocation formula.
Mr. Nicholas Nshe, the state ALGON chairman, who disclosed this on Saturday in Shendam, Plateau State, said the implementation of the minimum wage was unrealistic at the moment.
He said that more than 90 per cent of the local councils’ monthly allocations was used to service the wage bill and other statutory deductions.
Nshe said that once this was done, the councils were left with almost nothing for the execution of projects.
“The highest allocation Plateau gets in a month is N1.5 billion, out of which N670 million is spent on teachers’ salaries alone, while some statutory deductions are also made from the balance.
“At the end, you have just between N500 million and N700 million to be shared among the 17 local councils and the wage bill alone is about 95 per cent of what we get,” Nshe said.
He said that the monthly allocation to the Shendam Local Council was N56 million out of which N47 million was spent on salaries.
Nshe said the situation was worrisome as the current revenue sharing formula was not favourable to the councils, and called for a review of the formula.
“The N18,000 minimum wage translates to a paltry N600 per day, which is insignificant; we are even desirous of paying N40,000 as minimum wage or more, if we have the money.
“The current revenue allocation to the third-tier of government is 20.6 per cent; we are advocating 30 per cent. It is the people’s money and we will use it for their benefit.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayTHE implementation of the new minimum wage was kept on the front-burner at the weekend as more states offered to pay it to their workers.
For the Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum and Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, the zone’s governors will pay the N18,000 statutory minimum wage.
Obi, who spoke to journalists yesterday in Umuahia, Abia State capital at the end of the Anambra State lawmakers’ retreat, said that the zone’s stand on the new wage did not seem to have been given the coverage it deserved, especially as the zone’s Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) did not congratulate them.
And while the Kwara State government offered to pay the new wage, its Ondo State counterpart explained why it acceded to workers’ demand. But the Plateau State government may not be able to pay the new wage.
Also, the National Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Bisi Akande, yesterday allayed fears by workers in the South-West, saying the minimum wage issue was a legal matter that must be respected by the ACN-controlled states.
According to him, the ACN, which has great respect for the rule of law, will not disappoint the workers, insisting that as a responsible party, the states must pay the controversial wage to demonstrate good examples to others.
He spoke at his country home, Ila-Orangun, yesterday shortly after he was given an award for meritorious community service by the Osun North East Anglican Diocese.
The occasion was witnessed by the Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, his counterparty from Oyo State, Isiaka Ajimobi and Osun State Deputy Governor, Otunba Titi Laoye-Tomori.
His words: “Minimum wage is a matter of law and all laws must be obeyed. Only lawless people will refuse to obey the law and as a political party, we have instructed, we have directed our governors not to join any lawlessness and we have asked them to go and pay the minimum wage of N18,000.”
For the Federal Government to be able to pay the new wage, the Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, has advocated a reduction of lawmakers’ remunerations.
Speaking yesterday at the end of his three-day canonical visit to the Catholic Church of the Resurrection, Magodo, Lagos, Okogie said if the government meant to pay the minimum wage of N18,000, then it should cut down on the fat salaries and allowances of the members of the National Assembly.
He said: “When you look at the take home pay of those members of House of Representatives and the Senate, including the so-called allowances given to the governors, one would come to the conclusion that there is no way the government can meet up with the payment of the minimum wage.
“Firstly, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate are unnecessarily draining the treasury of the government at the expense of other Nigerians with the amount of money they are carting away, which can never make it possible to pay the minimum wage.
“Secondly, the inequality in the disbursement of allocation to various states on the excuse that those states where oil is produced should receive more than other states is not tenable because land belongs to God.
“I have spoken to not less than six governors who declared that they would not be able to pay and even Lagos State that many people think is rich has been living on borrowed money to execute some of the laudable programmes it is executing. People should not think it is only the tax-payers’ money that the Lagos State government is depending on because I have the fact as I am very close to the government. ”
Dr. Okogie said cutting down on the take-home pay and allowances of the lawmakers would discourage many people from going into politics because according to him, what is attracting them is the money that they see there and there has never been a report of lawmakers fighting for the poor but only for themselves.
“I even read of about N5 billion they packaged into the budget they wanted the President to sign just for themselves. What a nation this is?” he asked.
The Cardinal asserted that there was money in the country that was enough to go round every Nigerian and make an average citizen comfortable but unfortunately, the money was in the hand of few Nigerians.
On the issue of security in the nation, Okogie called on the Federal Government to be serious and know that if Boko Haram could attack Police Headquarters in Abuja, that showed the poor security in the country.
He seems to support the position of the United States, the European Union and other western powers, which urged the Federal Government not to go into negotiation with members of the sect as this would be a bad precedent.
He said by negotiating with them, others would come up who also would ask for negotiation.
On the issue of a sovereign national conference, His Eminence said it was necessary if the Federal Government would be able to implement what comes out of it.
According to Governor Obi, “we pleaded with the Federal Government to review what we receive here. A newspaper report stated that a particular state receives 20 per cent revenue more than the entire five South-East states put together. And they expect us to pay same wage as this particular state.
“Our stand is that we will pay the N18,000 but looking at the relativity of our income. If I pay this N18,000, it is going to be 100 per cent increase. Going by the reality of our income, we can’t do this. Some states have accepted to pay N14,000 of this N18,000 statutory minimum wage.”
Obi was also asked why he attended the retreat for lawmakers, the choice of Abia for it and its expected impact on Anambra State governance.
He said: “The weekend retreat was for the House members. But going by the way we work in Anambra State, I, as the governor, had to join them.
“We chose to come to Abia State to be able to show people that we can enjoy the confines and comfort of such a retreat in the state and show that Abia is very safe. We have been here for three days and had no incident and we enjoyed ourselves, had good times socializing with the people and by so doing, impacting on building a better South-East and Ndigbo as well as helping us in building a better Nigeria.”
According to him, from what was “learnt in the retreat, we will be able to use it for better governance of Anambra State and be able to contribute in building a better South-East and Nigeria, which is one of the reasons for the retreat.”
He said that the challenge had been how the zone should work together in unity, pleading with anybody or group who knew where the zone could raise money to let them know, saying “we will be glad to go there.”
The Ondo State government yesterday explained that its decision to start the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage to its workers was part of its commitment to the welfare of its workers.
The state Information Commissioner, Mr. Ranti Akerele, also debunked insinuations that the development was due to pressure mounted on it by a particular political party, saying that all the state government did was to submit to the will of the law and its commitment to the advancement of its workforce being the only Labour Party (LP) government in the country.
His words: “Mr. Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, consulted widely with various stakeholders in the state and acted on the advice of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of the state. Mr. Governor was informed of the need to be obedient to the Act given the provisions therein. We also as a Labour Party government vis-Ã -vis our avowed commitment to the welfare of our workers in the state, decided to ensure that we do our best for them and ensure that they are happy at all times. And we are gratified by the outpour of spontaneous joy and goodwill that has continued to greet the decision by the government ever since the arrangement” was agreed to by the governor.”
Meanwhile, Kwara State governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, has assured that the state government will implement the new minimum wage of N18,000 for its workforce, just as he advocated a review of the current revenue allocation formula in the country.
The governor, who gave the assurance at the weekend in Ilorin during an interactive session with journalists, said the new minimum wage was desirable for the Nigerian workers.
He described the new minimum wage as one of the best things that had happened recently in Nigeria.
The state government, Ahmed noted, already had a workable platform to implement the minimum wage for its workers, adding that government was still working on the modality of its implementation.
The governor, however, called on the Federal Government to urgently review the current revenue sharing formula so that states and local councils would be financially buoyant to pay the new wage without an adverse effect on any of its services.
“N18,000 minimum wage is desirable for the Nigerian workers or even more but we should first look at the capacity of each state to pay vis-a-vis the revenue allocation”, the governor stated.
According to him, the average monthly allocation to the state from the Federation Account was N2.3 billion with salaries taking about N1.2 billion, pointing out that with the new minimum wage, average monthly wage bill was expected to rise to about N2.1 billion.
What this portends in effect, the governor argued, was that there would be less money to carry on with other aspects of development, a situation, which he said, was unacceptable, hence the urgent need by the Federal Government to augment.
He, therefore, expressed government’s appreciation to the leadership of the Labour union and the entire civil servants in the state for their patience and understanding on the issue of minimum wage, assuring that it was promptly being addressed.
But the Plateau chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) has said that its members cannot pay the N18,000 minimum wage with the current revenue allocation formula.
Mr. Nicholas Nshe, the state ALGON chairman, who disclosed this on Saturday in Shendam, Plateau State, said the implementation of the minimum wage was unrealistic at the moment.
He said that more than 90 per cent of the local councils’ monthly allocations was used to service the wage bill and other statutory deductions.
Nshe said that once this was done, the councils were left with almost nothing for the execution of projects.
“The highest allocation Plateau gets in a month is N1.5 billion, out of which N670 million is spent on teachers’ salaries alone, while some statutory deductions are also made from the balance.
“At the end, you have just between N500 million and N700 million to be shared among the 17 local councils and the wage bill alone is about 95 per cent of what we get,” Nshe said.
He said that the monthly allocation to the Shendam Local Council was N56 million out of which N47 million was spent on salaries.
Nshe said the situation was worrisome as the current revenue sharing formula was not favourable to the councils, and called for a review of the formula.
“The N18,000 minimum wage translates to a paltry N600 per day, which is insignificant; we are even desirous of paying N40,000 as minimum wage or more, if we have the money.
“The current revenue allocation to the third-tier of government is 20.6 per cent; we are advocating 30 per cent. It is the people’s money and we will use it for their benefit.”
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