Abia NLC rejects less than N70,000 offer
Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, has said that the state is yet to commence implementation of the N70,000 new minimum wage to civil servants because the committee set up to work out modalities has been waiting for organised labour in the state, while the latter is waiting for the labour unions at the centre.
The governor disclosed this to journalists at the Government House, Umuahia, noting that organised labour in the state said that they would like to get a directive from the centre before they resume talks with the committee.
Otti said: “I believe in the new minimum wage; that should also happen very soon. The issue is that the committee we set up to work with labour has been waiting for it, and labour in Abia has been waiting for labour at the centre. They said they would like to get a directive from the centre before they resume their talks with the committee. So we are waiting.”
On arrears of salaries owed workers by previous administrations, the governor promised to offset salaries from August as funds become available.
He, however, stated that the arrears should have been paid by those who owed them, stressing that nobody should put a gun to his head because he was not the one who owed the salaries.
He also explained that some of the salary arrears are up to 33 and 36 months, and was not disclosed until not too long ago.
However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Abia State chapter, has disclosed that the delay in implementing the N70,000 minimum wage in the state is because the union did not accept the state government’s offer, which is below N70,000.
The Chairman of NLC in Abia, Okoro Ogbonnaya, said that the state government team offered something less than the approved N70,000, which, he said, was rejected by the NLC.
Ogbonnaya, who spoke to FLO 94.9 FM in Umuahia, made it clear that the N70,000, which is even for those on Level 1 Step 1, is sacrosanct and cannot be negotiated about, noting that the NLC team is much interested in consequential adjustments for those in various levels.
He confirmed that the labour team is scheduled to meet with the committee again, armed with the approved template from the NLC headquarters for the consequential adjustment discussions.
