FACT-FIRST: Fintiri wrong again; minimum wage not implemented in Adamawa

The claim by Gov. Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa state that minimum wage is implanted by his administration is false; an investigation by THE FINDER has shown.

Also untrue, our findings show, is Mr. Fintiri’s claim that he has reposition the civil service through improvement in the welfare of workers and give them other incentives.

In his controversial statement the governor made at a town hall meeting in Numan, Mr. Fintiri had, among other allegations, accused Bindow of flouting due process in employments carried out from 2015 t0 2019 and also claim that he paid a billion naira monthly to settle loans taken by his predecessor.

But in a curious move, Mr. Fintiri fails to tell the people that all the loans he took in 2014 when he was acting governor formed substantial amount he is paying today couple with the fact that most of the loan he is crying foul  about today predates Bindow’s tenure according to information and documents seen by this news medium.

But THE FINDER can report authoritatively today that Mr. Fintiri was economical with the truth as far as this particular civil servants welfare is concerned.

Since the inception of the Fintiri administration, the major problem face by the civil servants in Adamawa is lack of implementation of promotion arrears, for instance a staff with the Adamawa state Primary health on grade level 9 still collects the salary of level six, also the implementation of the 32000 naira minimum wage claim by the governor is also inaccurate as most of the workers are yet to get the minimum wage talk more of getting consequential adjustment for grade level 7 staff.

In his statement at the town hall meeting in Numan, Fintiri did not indicate the category of workers benefitting from the 32,000 minimum wage he claims he is implementing, as health workers are yet to benefit likewise teachers, university staff and all most staff of the tertiary institutions staffs are yet to benefit from the new minimum wage, even the local government workers.

The claim of tackling workers welfare is also inaccurate as alleged by the governor in Numan, as far as the promotion arrears problems bedevilling the civil service continue to linger under his watch.

THE FINDER cannot independently confirm the governor’s claim that the Ministry of Entrepreneurship Development has trained more than two thousand youths and women in the state. Is our opinion that since about ten thousand workers are sacked from the state workerforce and the alleged discovery of a thousand ghost workers in the payroll, we believed that enough money has been free up from the sacked workers payment and the discovery of ghost workers, the governor has no reason to continue lamentation on the repayments of a billion naira every months for loan deduction.

CONCLUSION: Mr. Fintiri’s statement at the town hall meeting in Numan does not support his claim that the his government give priority to workers welfare and also his claim that employments carried out under Bindow’s watch, is in breach of due process is false.

Documents reviewed by this newspaper as well as interviews with those who should know also indicate that the employments carried out under Bindow, especially the recruitment of 2000 teachers followed due process.