...Urges Ebonyi workers to reject strike order from NLC
Comrade Mrs Jennifer Adibe-Nwafor, SA on Inter Party and Labour Matters to Ebonyi State Governor.
By Victor Nwegede
The Special Assistant to the Ebonyi Governor on Inter Party and Labour Matters, Comrade Mrs Jennifer Adibe-Nwafor on Saturday said, minimum wage is paid in her state.
She said this in a press release while replying to the national leadership of Nigeria Labour Congresss, NLC, pointing that, Ebonyi is not among the list of the states which are yet to pay minimum wage to the workers.
She however, urged the Ebonyi state's workforce to reject strike order from the NLC.
The press release read:
"The office of the Special Assistant to the Ebonyi State Government on Inter-Party and Labour Matters, has received with great displeasure the news allegedly emanating from the national leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which classifies Ebonyi in the list of eighteen states which they say, were yet to implement the Thirty Thousand Naira (N30,000) new minimum wage.
"The statement, as published in the Punchonline of Saturday, 19th February, 2020 under the caption, 'Minimum Wage: NLC declares strike in Imo, Rivers, Osun, 15 others' directed workers in 18 states where the national minimum wage of N30,000 had yet to be paid to immediately proceed on strike.
"To put the records clear, the Ebonyi State government was the first in the South-East, and among the very first in the entire country to commence the payment of the Thirty Thousand Naira (N30,000) Federal Government approved new minimum wage, having started from 1st January 2020, and has consistently and promptly paid the new Thirty Thousand Naira (N30,000) minimum wage till today.
"We therefore challenge Mr. Ayuba Wabba and the entire NLC national leadership to provide the payslip of any worker under the payroll of the Ebonyi State government whose salaries is less than Thirty Thousand Naira (N30,000).
"It is indeed, very strange and surprising that a highly respected body like the NLC and personalities like Ayuba Wabba and his executives who ordinarily should have the facts at their fingertips and well documented in their database could release such a false and inaccurate data to the general public without doing a thorough fact finding to ascertain the actual states who were yet to implement the new minimum wage before entangling our state with such uncomplementary press release.
"The NLC national leadership should therefore, as a matter of urgency, tender an unreserved apology to the Ebonyi state government for that silly mistake. Such apology must be published in all the national dailies that have been fed with the fake news that enlisted Ebonyi among the embattled states who are still negotiating the 2019 minimum wage two years after Ebonyi government commenced payment.
"Had the NLC been fair in her judgement, what was rather expected of them was to issue a statement commending His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Ebonyi state, Engr. Chief David Nweze Umahi for his prudence in managing the lean resources of the state to carter for the interest of the state workers, and particularly for being the first to commence the payment of the new Thirty Thousand Naira (N30,000) minimum wage, as well as, for his other numerous workers friendly policies in the state including granting of soft loans for the workers, prompt payment of monthly salaries even before the end of each month, regular payment of a 13th month salaries to the state workers every year, provision of transport schemes for easy movement of workers in the state, and many other empowerment schemes to enable the workers have a second address.
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