Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, on Friday inaugurated the Consequential Adjustment Committee on Minimum Wage.
The development is coming barely 24 hours after he constituted the 18-member committee, report states
A statement by his spokesman, Rafiu Ajakaye, in Ilorin on Friday, said “the governor charged members of the committee to look at all the variables and design an agreement that caters for the interest of the workers, other segments of the society, and consider issues of development”.
The committee members were inaugurated at the council chambers of the Government House, Ilorin with top government officials, labour leaders, and representatives of the organized private sector in the state in attendance.
“The setting up of this committee sets out the process for the implementation of the national minimum wage in Kwara State.
“Following a legislative backing by the National Assembly, the President recently approved N70,000 as the new minimum wage.
“We welcome the development in Kwara State. But the law means more than just paying N70,000 to the lowest ranking worker. It involves working out the maths on how this affects the take home for senior workers on different cadres,” the governor said.
“This multi-stakeholder committee is therefore tasked to critically look at all the indices and arrive at workable consequential adjustments for all cadres of workers.
“I trust that this committee of senior government officials, reasonable labour leaders and organised private sector will consider all the variables and balance the need for decent salary adjustments with the important need to have something left for development and other strata of the society.
“In other words, we should arrive at an agreement that is durable, meets the legitimate needs of all, and takes into account the overall interest of our state,” the governor said.
State Head of Service and Chairman of the Committee, Mrs Modupe Susan Oluwole, commended the governor’s pro-activeness in constituting the committee.
“Recently, the President signed the 70,000 national minimum wage into law, and our governor, being proactive, constituted this noble committee within 72 hours,” she said.
The HOS was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Establishment and Training, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim.