7th February, 2011
The new salary structure for civil servants in Lagos State, South West Nigeria, promised by Governor Babatunde Fashola in his budget speech, has been unveiled, with the minimum wage pegged at N18,780.48.
According to the details available to P.M. News this morning, Governor Fashola did not just keep his promise, he has offered government workers in the state, more money than the Federal Government has offered its own workers. For starters, Lagos has pegged its minimum wage some hundreds of Naira above the Federal minimum of N18,000, which many indigent states will not be able to afford.
With the new jumbo wage increase, a full director in the civil service on level 17 will now earn N4.17 million minimum and N4.5 million maximum annually. The director level is the highest for career civil servants. The salary of permanent secretaries, who are political appointees is not revealed in the new structure. But informed sources said they are already earning far above the maximum being offered to the directors.
The state government said last week that it would make the new package known to civil servants and the public this week.
It is now confirmed that the state government will pay N18,780.48 monthly as the new minimum wage for the lowest cadre in the civil service and a maximum of N19,599.80 monthly when the lower staff reaches the fourth step instead of the N7,500 previously being earned by the lowest cadre.
The new minimum wage is over 100 per cent increase in the salaries of civil servants.
The new package takes effect from last month. Since the old package was what was paid civil servants last month, the balance would be paid along with this month’s salaries.
The new wage increase has triggered joy among civil servants who had for long been groaning under the burden of poor salaries, with the attendant consequence of corruption and poor attitude to work.
Mrs. Ulelu Smart, a staff of the Ministry of Rural Development said she was happy about the new salary structure for workers, adding that she came to the civil service at the right time.
Another staff who worked with the Radio Lagos, Eko FM, who craved anonymity, told P.M.NEWS that Fashola had done well for increasing their take home pay, adding that it was a step in the right direction.
Also, a staffer of the Ministry of Information and Strategy was very happy that his salary had been increased and commended the state governor for the gesture.
A female secretary attached to the Office of the Chief of staff said at level 6, her monthly take home pay was N16,000, but with the new increase, she would now enjoy working in the civil service.Under the new scale, her new salary will be between N27,000 and N30,000.
For university graduates, the entry point has now been increased, from about N20-22,000 to N54-58,000.
In the current budget, Lagos plans to spend N120 billion on overhead costs. It is not clear whether the new structure will jack up the entire recurrent expenditure estimate of N198 billion. The Fashola government plans to spend N252 billion on capital expenditure and raise a bond of N60 billion to finance some of its capital projects.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga
