Labour Leaders, Govt Fault NLC for Including Abia among Wage Defaulters

•Oyebanji Begs for Ekiti to be exempted

Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti and Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The industrial action called by the national leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in 14 states over allegednon-implementation of the N70,000 national minimum wage would not take place in Abia State.

This emerged yesterday at a joint press conference addressed by the Abia State government and the leadership of the organised labour in the state, with both parties saying  Abia was erroneously lumped among defaulting states.

Workers in the 14 states listed by the national leadership of NLC were directed to commence strike effective midnight of December 1, 2024 to compel the defaulting governors to pay the new minimum wage.

Chairman of the Abia State Council of NLC, Comrade Ogbonnaya Okoro, said Abia had started implementing the N70,000 minimum wage since October.

“For anybody to put Abia among states that have not started implementing the minimum wage is a wrong perception,” he said.

Okoro said government and organised labour had on October 24, 2024 jointly worked out a schedule of the consequential adjustments as it affected all salary grade levels.

The Abia NLC leader pointed out that the only issue that cropped up was that the consequential adjustments was not properly effected as it “favoured workers on grade level one to seven while level eight to 16 were not favoured.”

Corroborating his NLC counterpart, the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress(TUC), Comrade Ihechi Enogwe, stated that Abia was included erroneously” among the states yet to implement minimum wage.

Chief of Staff to the Abia Governor, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, also faulted the national leadership of NLC for including Abia among states to be grounded with industrial action, saying that the state has no issue with its labour force.

=”It is not true that Abia is among states not implementing the minimum wage. The implementation has taken off,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Governor, Mr.  Biodun Oyebanji, has appealed to the national leadership of labour movement to spare the state from the  planned strike, taking full effect from today, Monday, December 2, as proposed in states, where payment of the N70,000 minimum wage was yet to take effect.

Oyebanji, who spoke during the weekend at an event, where eminent lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Wole Olanipekun, staged the 28th annual Scholarship Award Scheme, and 5th Empowerment Programme of his Scholarship and Empowerment Programme, of his twin projects, held at his Ikere-Ekiti country home.

This was as a total of 4,219 Nigerians benefit from the Wole Olanipekun’s scholarship, and empowerment programmes, in 28 yrs

Oyebanji, who commended the patriotic zeal of Olanipekun, and his kind gestures’ effects, in helping the unemployed, and the brilliant, but indigent residents to have a new lease of life, said all arrangements had been concluded to commence the minimum wage payment, which he said, had since been approved, and agreed upon by the labour unions.

The governor explained that the delay in payment was not deliberate, as it was, due to the fact that the long negotiations, preparatory to the payment, had just been agreed upon with workers, few weeks ago.

Besides, he said the budget, to signal commencement of the said payment of the new minimum wage, had just been signed into law, as contained in the next fiscal appropriation bill.