LAGOS – The Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Hon. Kingsley Fanwo, has given an insight as to why the state government approved a minimum wage of N72,500 for its workers.
Fanwo in an interview with Daily Independent noted that the state government was able to achieve that because the administration of Governor Usman Ododo has placed a premium on the workforce and is genuinely interested in the welfare of workers for better service delivery to the state.
Recall that over two months after the national minimum wage law was passed, the federal and state governments have continued to dilly-dally on its implementation. Some governors have even gone on another round of negotiations with state union leaders to possibly compel the workers to settle for a figure lower than N70,000.
It is also on record that Kogi State is the first state to announce a figure higher than the N70,000 national minimum wage.
Speaking further, Fanwo said, “When the issue of minimum wage came up. It’s a constitutional matter, not a matter of choice. State schools put in place some administrative bottlenecks here and there, made sure they delayed a bit before starting but he (Ododo) constituted a committee.
“The committee met only four times and all the agreements were reached. The committee was chaired by the head of service. All the unions were represented and it was a matter of transparency at every meeting.
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“This is the allocation, this is what we’re getting from internally generated revenue (IGR). So what modalities are we going to use? So when they have that confidence in you it becomes very easy which is why we were able to agree on the N72,500 minimum wage in the state. If you listen to some of the civil society organisations, they said they’ll be the only agent of the governor in 2027. That is the level of confidence and when the governor gave his address at the Teachers Day ceremony, it resonated. He was having a meeting in Abuja but because of the teachers he drove all the way to Lokoja to make sure that he honoured them with his presence. The teachers were impressed, expressed their excitement and gratitude with the way he turned things around for their welfare, promising they would lead his campaign. When labour says it’ll lead your campaigns, you know what that means.”
While answering questions on the ability of the government to sustain the agreement, the commissioner said, “Leaders that are trusted don’t break promises. Trust capital is the major issue in political establishment especially in Nigeria. So they tend to see everybody at the political office as being insincere, as someone who doesn’t have the interest of the people at heart.
“He (Ododo) came in with his own agenda to consolidate on what has been done right and improve on what he thinks needs to be improved on. Immediately he came he started improving on the percentage being paid to the local governments because that was the major issue under the past administration, despite all the explanations that what is coming in is grossly inadequate.
“He took it up to 80, 90 and now they’re taking 100 percent. So they have confidence that this governor has their interest. Not only that, immediately he picked the ticket of the party he decided to appoint a unionist as his running mate. A classroom teacher, who was a former Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) chairman in the state. He nominated him to run with him, that gave confidence to the labour community that this person is coming to serve and they’ll be a part of his administration.
“As we speak, not less than 10 people from the labour community are serving in his government as special advisers, special assistants’ etcetera. So it’s going to be very difficult for you to get it wrong when you have this calibre of people.
“The current special adviser to the governor on labour matters was the immediate past Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) chairman in the state. They’ll be able to guide you to make the right decisions,” he added.
