The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has urged the Federal government to expedite action and complete in earnest its ongoing review of the minimum wage payable to civil servants nationwide.
The union said what is more important to teachers across the country is to start receiving salaries that would enable them to conveniently meet their financial obligations and live decent lives and not to be receiving monthly palliatives that would not in anyway alleviate their financial burdens.
The General Secretary of NUT, Mike Ene, gave this position in an exclusive interview with the Nigerian Tribune.
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According to him, aside from that palliatives are grossly inadequate and not the same amount across the states of the federation, many state governors have yet to comply with the directive for about four months now.
He added “Even among the states that comply, some of them pay as low as N10,000 and what will such an amount do in the face of the high inflation in the country,”
Ene, however, acknowledged that even though some state governments are also defaulted in the payment of the current N35,000 minimum wage, whatever comes as Minimum Wage at the end of the review will become a law that binds on every state.
“So, the government should not hide behind wage awards to delay the completion of the Minimum Wage Review and also ensure it comes up with salaries that workers will be proud of to take to market.
“After then, each state government can now begin to add some money on top maybe on a monthly or yearly basis for their workers to further augment their salaries,” he stressed.
TheWitness
