The Gombe State Government has recommended the sum of N28,000 as the new minimum wage to be paid to civil servants across the country in reality of the current financial situation in the country.
The positioned was made known on Thursday by the state Head of Civil Service and Chairman of the Minimum Wage Committee, Alhaji Adamu Haruna Abubakar, at the north-east zonal public hearing organised by the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage.
He added that the new minimum wage could only be realized if the federal government review the revenue allocation formula in favour of the states and local government areas.
Abubakar said the federal government should also initiate interventions to states so that whatever minimum wage approved will be conveniently adopted and implemented in the states.
“The federal government should take up payment of differences between the present N18, 000 minimum wage with any new minimum wage to be approved,” he said.
The head of service said the federal government must seriously enforce price control mechanism on goods and services to curb inflation and arbitrary increase in cost.
He said the state government on its part should diversify internally generated revenue, especially within the informal sector of the economy to be able to generate more funds for the provision of infrastructure and also complementing funds received from the federal government for sustainable payment of the minimum wage.
The state committee also recommended the review of the minimum wage after every five years.
“Federal government should encourage states and LGAs to implement the new minimum wage, while those who failed to implement the new wage should be sanctioned appropriately,” he added.
