Minimum wage: No ongoing discussion with Akwa Ibom govt on implementation — Labour

Nigerian Labour Congress, Akwa Ibom State chapter has said the State Government is yet to open discussions with organised Labour on the implementation of the new minimum wage.

This State Chairman of NLC, Comrade Sunny James, stated this during an interaction with some members of the Correspondents’ Chapel at the weekend.

According to the state NLC boss: “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 a consequential adjustment to make the salary table flow seamlessly. If you apply the 133 percent uniformly, salaries of those on Levels 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.

In a separate interaction, the Head of Civil Service, Akwa Ibom State, Elder Effiong Essien, assured that discussions on the new minimum wage would commence as soon as the circular on the consequential adjustment was released by the federal government.

His words, “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”

On whether Akwa Ibom would pay the N70,000 minimum wage, Head of Service stressed that the directive would come from the governor.

Tribune recalls 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.