Members of the Plateau State Executive Council have agreed to a 50% pay cut, as a way to support the Government’s ongoing efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interview with Kadaria Ahmed, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau stated that sacrifices would be made across all sectors, and that the state’s executives resolved to take the lead in this regard.
“When this pandemic started and we had a stakeholders meeting, we agreed that we are going to start the sacrifice from the executive, and we’ll cut down the salaries of the executives to 50%,” he stated.
He added that funds gotten from the salary cuts have been pooled and submitted to the endowment fund set up for the purpose of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, the Plateau State Government is awaiting a similar move from the State House of Assembly, the governor disclosed.
(READ MORE: Covid-19 Update in Nigeria)
He stated further that the organised labour in the state had also agreed to suspend implementation of the agreed N30,000 minimum wage until the COVID-19 scourge is all over.
“We had already concluded on the N30,000 minimum wage, but when we had a meeting with the labour, they looked at it and they said we cannot start talking about increase of our salaries now with this COVID-19. Let us go on our old salaries pending when we finish with covid-19,” Lalong explained.
Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Simon Lalong says his state’s executive have agreed to a 50% pay cut.
Is that enough?
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— Kadaria Ahmed (@KadariaAhmed) April 24, 2020
Governor Lalong argued that a lot of planning, focus, and sacrifice from political office holders are needed to help the north navigate the pandemic and come out with as little scars as possible.
By this action, Lalong who doubles as the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum has set the pace for other states to follow.