SHOCKER: Zamfara LG workers receiving ‘N6,000 as minimum wage’

Local government workers in Zamfara state are reportedly earning N6,000 per month as minimum wage, making them the worst paid in Nigeria.

Ibrahim Khaleel, national president of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), said this in Abuja ahead of the union’s 40th anniversary.

According to NAN, Khaleel said the non-compliance of Abdulaziz Yari, governor of the state, with the N18,000 minimum wage was “the real reason he is obstructing the actualisation of the proposed N30,000 minimum wage.”

Khaleel, who is also the national treasurer of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), added that the low-earning power of Zamfara residents was responsible for the rising insecurity in the state.

The labour leader noted that as long as the workers were not well paid, “there would be no peace in the state.”

Khaleel also accused Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau state, of not fully complying with the N18,000 wage, alleging council workers in the state only get a fraction of the money.

He alleged that the nation’s local government workers were the most vulnerable in the world.

According to him, the welfare of workers in the system can only be enhanced if the local government areas are allowed to function well.

On local government autonomy, the union leader said only 12 states had taken their stand on the issue, with nine of them supporting autonomy for the local government and three others voting against it.