Alex Otti Averts Labour Unrest over Implementation of New Minimum Wage

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has averted a looming industrial crisis in the state after reaching agreement with the organised labour on the acceptable modality for the implementation of the new minimum wage. 

The “amicable agreement” came on the heels of altercations between the Abia State House of Assembly and the State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which had alleged that the House was considering a bill to scuttle local government autonomy. 

Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, announced on Tuesday that government and labour resolved their differences after negotiations on Monday, adding that payment of new minimum wage would commence as planned before month end. 

“The state government and the organised labour have reached an amicable settlement with regards to the issue of the payment of the new minimum wage,” Kanu told journalists at government house. 

However, he said that the payment of the new minimum wage could not start on the 28th day of the month, the usual day for salary payments “because the negotiations ended in the early hours of Monday. 

Meanwhile, the Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Hon Emmanuel Emeruwa, has warned the Abia NLC leadership to desist from making unfounded allegations against the state legislature. 

The speaker was reacting to the alarm raised by NLC that the House was considering a bill that would empower the state government to take 90 percent of local government allocations, leaving the councils with just 10 per cent. 

“There is nothing like that before me, there is nothing like that,” he said, adding, “I Challenge them (NLC) to produce evidence of what they wrote because you cannot say what you don’t know.” 

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo

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