Several workers in Nasarawa State have given the new figures of their salaries as the state government introduces a drastic reduction of salaries amid a national economic crunch.
Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura
Silas Agara, the Nasarawa State deputy governor, said on Tuesday in the state capital, Lafia that the government who had been previously paying double the federal minimum wage of N18,000, has decided to halt the package as its monthly allocation from the federal government dwindled amid a national economic crunch.
As the new pay cut is telling mightily on the government workers,
Premium Times interviewed several workers who gave figures of their salaries before the cut, and the 'piecemeal' the drastic reduction left them with.
A government worker in the ministry of works said he had earlier obtained a bank loan to complete his house. With the salary cut, he went home last month with only N1,500. While a senior teacher at one of the state government colleges said before the cut, he received N54,000 monthly, but was paid only N7,000 last month.
Also spaking with the publication, a director in the state ministry of education, who received N224,000 as monthly salary, was paid N100,000, while a secondary school principal said she was paid N70,000 instead of the usual 200,000 monthly.
It was gathered that the state workers are on strike in protest of the pay cut, and on Saturday, the state government warned it may recruit new graduates to replace the aggrieved workers.
Halima Iliya, a graduate of economics who spoke with Premium Times, said she had been without job since earning a degree 10 years ago, adding that her state government should hasten to implement the mass sack, and that some unemployed youth were willing to accept as low as N10,000 monthly.