Doctors in Lagos State under the aegis of Medical Guild have rejected the new minimum wage paid to workers by the state government, saying it was below the expectations of civil servants, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
Chairman of the Guild, Dr Babajide Saheed, made the doctors’ decision known on Monday in Lagos.
Saheed said that not only was the new minimum wage unacceptable, the Guild was not part of the negotiations communicated to government, adding that it was still awaiting response.
He said, “You cannot be talking about our salary when we are not there; and when workers started receiving their salaries over the weekend, they were disappointed and unhappy.
“Not only the doctors, generally all the civil servants because the increment was unimaginable and short of expectations.
“The problem we have identified is high taxation.
“No matter the amount of increment in the minimum wage, which makes the gross high, the take home after tax reductions is peanuts.
“Government should look at that issue and let workers have the benefits of the new minimum wage, and we hope that the state government will listen.”
Saheed called for the exemption of tax on call duty paid to doctors, saying it would lighten the tax burden on members of the Guild.
Meanwhile, Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, Director, Public Affairs Department, Lagos State Ministry of Health, when contacted said that he could not respond to the guild’s rejection of the new minimum wage.
