Why We Can’t Pay March Salaries-Kano State Govt

The Kano State Government has said that it cannot afford to pay workers their full salaries for the month of March as a result of the drop in federal allocation.

The State Commissioner of Information, Muhammad Garba said that the drop in federal allocation for the period under review has made it difficult for the government to implement the new salary package.

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The state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress had on Friday given the government a seven-day ultimatum to refund and stop what it described as “illegal deduction” from civil servants’ salaries.

The Chairman of NLC in the state, Kabiru Ado Minjibir had stated that workers would embark on a three day warning strike beginning from April 7, if the government failed to stop the deduction before April 6, 2021.

Garba explained that the federal allocation received by the state government in the month of March was N12.4bn out of which the state collected N6.1bn, while the 44 local governments shared the sum of N6.3bn

He said that the government would require additional amount in billions for it to pay the consolidated wages to its workers.

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“Given the situation, the organised labour ought to have reason with the government because embarking on strike won’t in any way solve the problem”, he said.

Speaking further, the Commissioner recalled the understanding it had with the labour union in May 2020, which would allow payment of salaries based on percentage of the total disbursement received.

He said, “In November/December, last year, similar necessary but temporary measure was adopted in the payment of workers’ salary as a result of the shortage to keep the government going which was, however, reversed for the months of January and February, after the situation improved.”

He however, appealed for the support of the labour union and the entire workforce to maintain the good working relationship with the government.

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