Governor Umo Eno has announced that civil servants in Akwa Ibom State will not begin receiving the new minimum wage until staff verifications are completed.
Several weeks ago, Mr. Eno approved an N80,000 minimum wage for state workers—N10,000 above the national minimum wage.
“I am aware that quite a number of our civil servants have relocated within Nigeria while others have gone abroad. We have to be sure that those receiving payments are real civil servants,” Mr Eno said at a Church Service in Uyo on Sunday, justifying a delay in the commencement of payment of the new minimum wage to workers.
“My watchword since assuming office has been transparency and honesty in service deliverables and we have to ensure that we carry this through this verification exercise, which would soon be completed,” Mr Eno’s spokesperson, Ekerete Udoh said in a statement on Sunday.
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The governor, after approving the new minimum wage, constituted a committee to work on consequential adjustments and submit a report within a month – November.
Labour leaders, including Sunny James, the chairperson of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, are part of the committee.
Sensing potential backlash from the Organised Labour in Akwa Ibom over the delay in implementing the new minimum wage, Governor Eno cautioned those he described as consistently pushing for disruptions to the “smooth and seamless” relationship between the state government and Labour. He urged them to “rethink” their stance.
While the governor did not specify when the state government would begin paying the arrears of the new minimum wage, he announced plans to pay civil servants a 13th-month salary by next month.
“Since we came in, we have paid critical attention to the needs and the welfare of civil servants in this State. To date, we have paid N35 billion in gratuities to retired state, local government workers and primary school teachers in the State,” he said, highlighting his commitment to workers welfare.
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