Ebonyi government to pay new minimum wage from January

• Sets Up Committee To Investigate Clash Between Council Boss,Lawmaker

Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi yesterday said his government will begin payment of the new minimum wage in January next year.Also, he set up a seven man committee to investigate the clash between the chairman of Ohaukwu local government area, Clement Odah and a Lawmaker, Chinedu Onah.

Umahi, while signing the 2020 appropriation bill of N178bn into law, said his administration won’t be able to pay incremental arrears to the workers due to paucity of funds, decrying refusal of some highly placed persons in the state to pay taxes to boost the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and charged the board to be more aggressive in getting IGR for the state. Former Ambassador to Greece and former Minister of Culture and Tourism, Frank Ogbuewu heads the committee. Onah, representing Ohaukwu south state constituency Assembly had clashed with the chairman at the state Assembly complex in Nkaliki on Wednesday followed the dropping of four nominees from the Council from the list of management committee members. The House of Assembly on that same day during a plenary alleged that Odah slapped the Lawmaker and called for his arrest but Odah denied this.

While inaugurating the committee, Umahi said they’ve been carefully selected to ensure neutrality condemning the chairman for going to the House of Assembly in the first place. Other members of the committee are former Deputy Governor Chigozie Ogbu, former Minister of State for Health, Fidelis Nwankwo, and a former Minister for Power, Goddy Ogbaga. Others include current Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) Hycinth Okpor, Prof Michael Awoke while Chief Dominic Aja will serve as the Secretary of the Committee.