As Nigerian workers agitate for a new minimum wage, primary schoolteachers working across the 14 local government areas of Zamfara State still receive N8,000 as minimum wage.
Addressing thousands of civil servants, who converged on J.B. Secretariat, Gusau on Wednesday to celebrate Workers’ Day, the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Zamfara State, Sani Halliru, expressed displeasure that primary schoolteachers in the state still received N8000 as minimum wage.
Halliru explained that the NLC had made frantic efforts to persuade the state government to review the salary of primary schoolteachers but “our appeals fell on deaf ears.’’
He said, “Despite the pressure mounted on both the past and present administrations, our colleagues at the primary school level are still collecting N8,000 as monthly salary.”
The NLC chairman called on Governor Dauda Lawal to implement the current N30,000 national minimum wage for Zamfara schoolteachers, who, he said, had been putting in their best despite the meagre amount they were receiving.
Haliru said workers in Zamfara State were waiting for the NLC national leadership to take a stand on the proposed N750,000 new minimum in the country.
Responding, Governor Lawal commended the civil servants in the state for their hard work and dedication to duty despite numerous challenges.
The governor stated that his administration was committed to the welfare of civil servants.
Lawal, however, said to the workers: “I will not promise you what I cannot sustain but I am assuring you that I will surprise you.”
PUNCH
