The Abia State Government has refuted claims by the Nigerian Labour Congress that the state has defaulted on implementing the National Minimum Wage.
Addressing journalists at the Government House, Umuahia, the Chief of Staff, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, said the Dr Alex Otti-led administration is not among the 14 states yet to implement the new N70,000 minimum wage.
He said the state government began implementing the new minimum wage in October.
While citing the Abia Government’s commitment to workers’ welfare, he said the implementation of the new minimum wage was in fulfilment of the government’s promise to be one of the first state governments that would pay the new minimum wage.
“It is misinformation that Abia State has not started implementing the new minimum wage. Abia workers received their first salary according to the new wage in October, and the same was done in November,” Ajagba said.
In his speech, the State Chairperson of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ogbonnaya Okoro, affirmed that the Dr. Alex Otti-led administration had commenced implementation of the N70,000 Minimum Wage in October.
Okoro said the organised labour in the state is in a closed-door meeting to resolve some grey areas regarding Consequential Salary Adjustment.
He further said there were discrepancies in the salaries of workers between grade levels 8 and 16.
“Abia implemented the minimum wage in October, but it did not fully benefit all workers. It favoured workers from levels 1 to 7, while those from levels 8 to 16 were not adequately addressed,” he stated.
“After noticing this anomaly, the Organized Labour wrote a letter to the government, urging that workers between levels 8 and 16 should be better placed.”
