Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, says his administration will take the lead in the implementation of new minimum wage being negotiated by the tripartite committee of the federal government.
Governor Otti stated this while addressing Abia workers on the occasion of the 2024 Workers’ Day with the theme, “People First” held in Umuahia, assuring that he would backdate the implementation and pay its arrears to the state workers.
The governor, who promised to look into the request for payment of the approved wage award expeditiously, said the arrears of the leave allowances and salaries owed by the immediate past administration would be paid, case by case, vowing that never again would the workers be owed in the state
The state governor, who titled his speech, “Workers as Agents of Development and Transformation”, acknowledged the ingenuity of the members of the Abia workforce and said it would be workers first in the new Abia. He disclosed that he has made it a policy to meet salaries and entitlements of the workers and pensioners first before the political officeholders get their monthly official entitlements.
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Governor Otti, while appreciating and congratulating the workers on their special day, called on them to support his government in his quest to rebuild Abia state.
“We made it clear that in the New Abia, it will be Workers First. Our conviction is that the welfare and interests of the workers, past, present and future, will come before listening to the demands of the political class. Since we assumed office, we have made it an official policy of government that we must meet our salary obligations before political officeholders are paid their monthly entitlement.
“The State is deeply grateful for your sacrifices, your diligence. I am pleased to inform you that we shall take the lead in implementation as soon as a new national minimum wage structure is announced. I understand that labour leaders across the country are currently engaging with the federal government and we are following those discussions closely.
“We have also noted your other demands including payment of arrears of leave allowance, promotions and other accumulated debts owed our workforce in the last eight to ten years. We shall carefully consider these requests and deal with them on a case-by-case basis, and subject to availability of resources.”
In his speech, the State Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Okoro Ogbonnaya, while commending Governor Alex Otti for all his developing strides so far, including the welfare of workers in the state, requested the Governor to defray the arrears of leave allowances and salaries owed workers in the state by the immediate past administration.
He also informed the governor the need to conduct promotion exercises in the state service which were last conducted in 2021, pay the approved wage award, approve the payment of promotion arrears, recruit teachers as well as immediate intervention on the crises that led to the closure of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.