…Describes as untrue the allegation that Ambode
was sacked from the State’s Public Service. “He
retired voluntarily after 27 years of meritorious
service”, he says
The Lagos State Government at the weekend
debunked the propaganda of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) on Minimum Wage in the
State’s Civil Service saying the State Government
remains the first State in the Federation that
implemented the Federal Government approved
Minimum Wage structure.
Barely a week before the Gubernatorial and House
of Assembly elections in the State, the Candidate
of the PDP in the State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has
placed posters in the environs of the State
Secretariat, Alausa, promising to implement the
National Minimum Wage and pay leave
allowances to the Public Servants if voted in as
Governor of the State.
But a statement signed by the Special Adviser on
Media to the Governor, Mr. Hakeem Bello,
explained that the administration of Mr
Babatunde Fashola, SAN was not only the first to
implement the Minimum Wage structure but also
added to the N18,000 Minimum Wage across
board, a gesture for which the Public Servants
commended the administration.
The statement recalled that the issue of minimum
wage was settled on Tuesday, February 7, 2011,
when the State Government signed an agreement
with the 14 approved labour unions in the State
Civil Service to pay N18,780 to the lowest paid of
its workers.
The agreement, brokered by the then
Commissioner for Establishment and Training, Mr.
Jide Sanwoolu, according to the statement ,
increased the minimum wage of the lowest paid
worker in the employment of the government by
69.6 percent which is a 7.6 percent increase over
the Federal Government approved National
Minimum Wage.
Apart from commendations from the national
leadership of the labour unions then, the
statement also recalled the Chairman of the
Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) of the approved
labour unions, Comrade Henry Akinwunmiju, as
thanking the State Government “for its
magnanimity in not only meeting the workers’
demands but going beyond to give more than the
Federal Government”.
It also quoted the Chairman of the Trade Union
Congress (TUC), which was part of the
negotiating team, Comrade Akeem Kazeem, as
also thanking the State Government then “for the
understanding it has shown concerning the
workers’ demands” adding that “what has
happened in Lagos State as regards the
negotiations was worthy of emulation by other
states of the Federation”.
On the issue of Leave Allowance, the statement
said the Governor recently met with the Public
Servants during which he explained that his
administration did not stop paying leave
allowances but that the system of annual
payment of the allowance changed when the
Public Servants themselves requested that they
be moved from Harmonized Salary Structure to
Consolidated Salary Structure as obtains in the
Federal Civil Service.
According to the Governor during the meeting,
when the Harmonized Salary Structure was
operational, Government was saving a percentage
of the salaries of the workers which were saved
for them and given them in bulk later in the year
when they wanted to proceed on leave.
He explained that the leaders of the workers’
associations came to him and said the workers
wanted the Harmonized Salary Structure to be
converted to Consolidated Structure adding that
in the new structure, all benefits of the workers
were consolidate into their monthly salaries.
Noting that the workers used to get their leave
bonuses yearly, Governor Fashola, however,
recalled, “In 2010, a request was brought to us
that the Public Service wanted to convert to what
the Federal Government had approved, which was
Consolidated Salary System. The Leaders of the
workers told us they were going on strike unless
we approved the Consolidated Salary System and
we concurred”.
The Governor explained further, “Now, once you
move from Harmonized to Consolidated Salary
System, all your entitlements are consolidated as
well. In consolidating the salaries we did not take
out their leave bonus because it is a matter of
logic and common sense”.
“If we had taken out their leave bonuses their
salaries would have reduced but their salaries did
not reduce; rather in addition there was 25
percent wage increase at the time”, he said
adding, “What has changed is that we stopped
what we used to do before; that if a worker’s
salary was say N10 and his leave bonus is N1,
what he has been getting before would be N9 and
N1 is being saved for him. Around August or
September he would get N12 plus that month’s
salary”.
“What is happening now is that the worker is
getting N10 because we are not saving N1
anymore”, he said adding that the workers have
now come back to say that they want
Government to revert to the Harmonized Salary
Structure.
Governor Fashola, who confirmed that the
workers have come back to request a return to
the old system, said he asked them to do a letter
to him bearing such a request in order to ensure
that it was a collective decision adding that he
also suggested to the union members to subject
such sensitive issues to extensive debate by
members after which a decision could be taken
that binds everyone.
Governor Fashola also repudiated the insinuation
that the APC Governorship Candidate was
dismissed from the State’s Civil Service,
describing it as one of the many lies of the ruling
party aimed at deceiving voters into voting for
them. He explained that Mr. Akin Ambode retired
voluntarily from the Public Service after 27 years
of meritorious service to the State adding that he
(Governor) wrote him a letter of commendation.
The Governor, who called on Lagosians to ignore
such lies and others that would likely come from
the party in the run up to Saturday’s
Governorship election, noted that the PDP had
done nothing in the last 16 years but lie to
Nigerians about practically everything including
the state of the economy and the security
situation as well as other sensitive issues that
affect the lives of the people.
Urging the people not to be deceived by such lies,
Governor Fashola pointed out that in the last 16
years, the PDP-controlled Federal Government had
ignored the State in Federal appointments and
not only failed to maintain its numerous
infrastructure in the State but refused to pay
back to the State the money it has spent,
amounting to N51 billion, in maintaining Federal
assets in the State including roads and bridges
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