30,000 Minimum Wage: We will pay only when we boost IGR – Gov. Lalong

By Kingsley Chukwuka, Jos

Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, has said the State will work hard to boost the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), so as to meet up with the new salary structure of N30,000, as approved by the federal government as the new minimum wage.
Lalong stated this on Wednesday in Jos, at the event to mark the workers-day celebration held at the Rwang Pam Stadium.
“We would assiduously work hard with you workers to improve the IGR of the State so as to meet up with the payment of the new minimum wage”, Lalong said.
The Governor lamented the issue of ghost workers as one of the set back for government, to meet up with its responsibility of tackling the many challenges of workers, calling on civil servants to expose all forms of leakages.
“Comrades it behooves on you to as a matter of prudence, expose all leakages and bring to bear ghost  workers. By doing this, we would have more resources at our disposal to take care of the many needs of our workers.
“We have at the moment paid some funds for the acquisition of Land for Civil Service Housing Scheme, and all other processes for the development have reached advanced level and at the appropriate time you will be notified of the needful.
“Like I have always said, workers are amongst the first line priority of our administration and this government will always initiate policies and programmes that will be beneficial to workers”.
Lalong call on the Joint Union of Plateau State Owned Tertiary Institutions (JUPTI), to call off their strike action, saying that government has already attended to some of their demand, while other issues that bother on policy review and implementation are being expressly looked into, with a view to arriving at a lasting solution.