Head of Service of the Federation, Stephen Oronsaye, has said the issue of living wage was a challenge facing the federal government and assured workers that government was making concerted efforts aimed at addressing their grievances.

Speaking in Abuja, at a meeting with directorate level officers in the service, Oronsaye said “I acknowledge that there are challenges that will take considerably larger timeframe to dial with, such as a living wage for the entire service, adequate funding for training and capacity building as well as other welfare issues.

“This will obviously be treated in the context of the dynamics of the national economy, but the service should continue to show the highest levels of commitment and professionalism, even when these concerns are being considered” he said.

On the strike, he said government was making genuine efforts to address the problems.

“Let me also use this opportunity to draw attention to the spate of strikes and threats of strikes across the public service. Many of these are avoidable, because the administration is making genuine and concerted efforts to addressing all legitimate grievances. Management is open and committed to a policy of genuine dialogue.

“As you are aware, there is a Federal Government-Labour standing committee, which is a useful tool for improving the Federal Government-Labour relations,” he said and commended the National Assembly for wading into the matter and workers for calling off the strike.