The Labour Minister, Chris Ngige, has countered claims by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki that there is no money to pay salaries beyond next month.
This comes against the backdrop of the proposed salary increase by the federal government.
According to the minister, contrary to Obaseki”s claims, the federal government has put in place plans to capture the payment of salaries and the proposed increases.
OsunDaily News learnt that the minister said N350 billion has been captured in the appropriation budget of 2023 to cater for that.
Ngige’s reaction followed Obaseki’s claims that the federal and state government might not be able to keep up with payment of salaries considering the proposed hike in salaries.
However, the labour minister described the claim as an “alarm” as he assured workers that the federal government has the capacity to meet the proposed pay rise.
He however expressed displeasure that while Nigerian workers have the right to ask for more wages, he did not like the idea of equating minimum wage with dollars, as most of the consumables that workers purchase are not bought in dollarised markets.
While speaking on job creation, Ngige said if the economy is facing challenges, there will not be enough money in the system to create jobs, because that foreign investment into the country has gone down.
He noted that job creation is a cross-cutting issue and that the private sector is also responsible for job creation.
