From our correspondent in Yola
The Federal government’s Tripartite committee on national minimum wage has conducted a zonal public hearing for the six states of the North eastern region in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.
Declaring the public hearing open Thursday, Zonal Chairman of the hearing and President of the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero said the platform was established by the Federal government to reach a cogent and workable solutions in addressing the issues of salary and wages of Nigerian workers.
Comrade Ajaero announced that critical stakeholders from all the six North East states gathered in Yola to put heads together in advancing acceptable and fair numeration for civil servants, stating that the present take home pay of a civil servant is nothing to write home about considering the high cost of living these days.
Ajaero said that Nigerians are suffering these days, adding that the meeting is not a negotiating process but an avenue to hear and collect data direct from stakeholders before reporting back to the main committee which would negotiate with the government.
He also opined that a separate interface he tagged”Market public hearing” need to be organized by government to address the current high cost of living in the country, and lamenting that people are facing multi dimensional hardship.
In his welcome address, the Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri stated that the meeting was a family gathering to discuss cogent and reasonable modalities to tackle the challenges facing the country.
Represented by the Deputy Governor,Professor Kaletapwa Farauta, Fintiri enjoined the stakeholders to advance submissions that would be a source of prospering solutions in addressing the wages of Nigerian workers.
Earlier in his remarks,Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state observed that free fall of the country’s currency is contributing to the high cost of living these days.
While applauding president Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration for the courage to call the zonal public hearing through the Tripartite committee, Governor Mohammed said there is the need to review the salary and wages and the revenue sharing formular of the monthly Federal allocation or subventions.
Mohammed therefore urged people to contribute meaningful so as to address the economic quamire squarely in the interest of moving the country forward.
Many presentations and submissions of memorandums were received by the committee from different stateholders who graced the public hearing held at banquet hall of the government house Yola.
