Abia State Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, has dismissed a report published yesterday in a national newspaper (not the Sunday Sun), in which the state was listed as one of the states yet to implement the national minimum wage.
Reacting to the report, which cited a document purportedly obtained from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and corroborated by the Deputy General Secretary of NLC, Bello Ismail, Kalu said: “The report is false and without bearing to facts as it concerns our state.”
He said that the state government led by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu commenced implementation of the new minimum wage in January 2020 with the least-paid worker in the state workforce earning above the minimum wage of N30,000.
“Indeed, the state is the first in the South East region to have commenced payment of the new minimum wage to workers. We are, therefore, lost as to how the national leadership of NLC is not aware of this fact, which is verifiable and available within the media space including previous publications by The Guardian, and Abia civil servants who are their members.