AKWA Ibom State government is yet to open discussions with the State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC over implementation of the new minimum wage.
This was revealed during separate interviews with the Chairperson NLC, Akwa Ibom, Sunny James and the State Head of Civil Service, Elder Effiong Essien over the weekend in Uyo, the state capital.
The state NLC boss said, “We have not started anything on the new minimum wage in Akwa Ibom and my reason is very simple.
“When there’s new minimum wage legislation, the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) in conjunction with the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) will have to meet and agree on consequential adjustment.
“We have N70,000 new minimum wage, so there has to be consequential adjustment to make the salary table to flow in a seamless manner. If you apply the 133 percentage uniformly, salaries of those on Level 14, and 15 will be very high.”
Reacting to complaints by some state governors that they would not be able to pay N70,000 as new minimum wage, James expressed the optimism that Organized Labour and state government would eventually settle for the signed national minimum wage Law for Akwa Ibom workers.
“Akwa Ibom State governor will not complain that he cannot pay N70,000. And there’s no way we can collect anything less than N70,000 as the new minimum wage. We will not accept that. The governor has not also said that he will not pay”, he asserted.
Similarly, asked what state government was doing towards implementation of the new minimum wage, the Head of Civil Service, Elder Essien assured that discussions would commence as soon as the circular on the consequential adjustment was released by the federal government.
He said, “The state government is still waiting for the circular on the new minimum wage. You know it has a process. After the legislation the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission has to release a circular with consequential benefits.
“So when the states receive that circular that is when the states will also prepare in house towards implementation of the new minimum wage”
Asked if Akwa Ibom would pay the N70,000 minimum wage, Elder Essien stressed that the directive would come from the governor.
Recall that the state governor while addressing the workers on May 1, 2024 had asserted that feedback from the Federal Government would guide the state on the new minimum wage implementation.
