By Agency Reporter
The Cross River State Government have revealed that to fully implement the new minimum wage of N30, 000 only it recently entered with NLC in the State, it would require over N2.8 billion monthly.
The State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Asu Okang disclosed this in a remark during the February edition of the monthly ministerial press briefing organized by his Ministry.
Okang stated that the State Government currently has a total staff strenght of over 19,000 from the core MDAs with a monthly wage bill of over N1.8 billion only, noting that the staff of Cross River University, College of Education Akamkpa, Institute of Technology and Management Ugep, College of Health Technology Calabar amongst other State owned tertiary institutions that recieves monthly subvention also require another over 260 million Naira only to cover for their staff monthly salaries.
This situation, according to the Commissioner usually increases the wage bill of the State to over 2.1 billion Naira only monthly, pointing out that with the State Government recieving an average of about 3 billion Naira only (monthly) from the Federation Account and a standing statutory deduction of over 1.8 billion Naira only, the State Government is usually left with no funds to pursue project implementation after payment of salaries.
The Information and Orientation Boss explained further that with the recent signing of the N30, 000 new minimum wage for levels 1-6 and consequential adjustments for levels 7-17 and implementation date set for March 1, 2020 the State Government would now need over 2.2 billion Naira only (monthly) for the 19, 000 core MDAs workers and another 600 million Naira only for staff of institutions that recieve monthly subventions to meet up the payment arrangements.
“This means Governor Ayade would now need over 2.8 billion Naira monthly to pay the new wage to all category of State workers while total monthly take home for all political appointees are still being worked out since the Governor is still making more appointments”, he averred.
The Commissioner said this is where the Governor’s concept of intellectual money has been playing a big role in the many infrastructural initiatives which Governor Ayade is currently championing for the people of Cross River State and sued for support and cooperation of revenue generating MDAs in order to shore up the revenue base of Government.
Okang reminded the media to be positive in the reportage of the activities of the present administration, emphasizing that the monthly press briefing is his Ministry’s initiative to institutionalize the new information order in the State as well as provide a platform for interface between the Government and the governed in order to get a buy in from the citizenry.
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