It has become a routine for successive governments of Anambra state to frown at national minimum wage since 2011 when the wage was fixed at ₦18,000. Some politicians may argue on the basis of low income of the state but how true is this?
It is on record Anambra State
made huge financial savings running in millions of US dollars with zero debt
profile under His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi. Despite that fact, he could not
implement what was negotiated between the government and the state organized
labour. Workers' salary was bad though he gave some incentives to the permanent
secretaries including cars.
In 2019, when the ₦30,000
national minimum wage was announced under the successive government of His
Excellency, Chief Willie Obiano, the state government, once more, renegade on
the binding agreement it had with the state organized labour on the
implementation of the minimum wage and its consequential adjustments. Like his
predecessor, he also gave special attention only to the permanent secretaries'
basic salaries while slightly adjusting the grade level 1, step 1 net salary to
reach the benchmark of the minimum wage.
This unfortunate development is
what the present state NLC chairman, comrade Humphrey Nwafor came to refer to,
as "complying with the minimum wage law" as against his threat of
strike action for non-implementation of the ₦30,000 minimum wage, following labour's
meeting with the state government on the 22nd of May 2024.
He also categorically excused
the government when he noted that there are no officers in levels 1 and 2
currently in the service. This does not make their provisions invalid as the
state Civil Service rapidly runs out of junior officers.
Shocked, workers were. Even
though the Willie Obiano's administration made excuses of low IGR, his
lifestyle and running costs of his government was not hidden from the public.
Once again, they are left disappointed and betrayed.
Today, the ₦70,000 national
minimum wage has been approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and assented to
by the National Assembly. Anambra workers are perturbed, going by the
regularity of sabotage in series of minimum wage implementation in the state.
What will become the fate of the abandoned ₦30,000 minimum wage legal agreement
signed between the state government and Labour in 2019? Will the Soludo
government fix workers' basic salary below ₦70,000 while adjusting allowances
to reach the benchmark like his predecessors did?
Oh dear labour! Is it now a
question of terminology rather than procedure? Economic terms have infilterated
the institutions and now look the same. Perhaps soon, there will be no
difference between the Civil Service and corporate institutions.
Post a Comment