The labor stakeholders in Enugu State have clarified the statement credited to the Assistant General Secretary of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Chris Onyeka, which listed Enugu among the states yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage.
Onyeka listed Abia, Enugu, Bayelsa, Delta, Nasarawa, Gombe, Adamawa, Niger, Sokoto, Imo, Anambra, Taraba, Benue, and Zamfara as states yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage in defiance of the Minimum Wage Act, 2019.
However, reacting to the development on Monday, the state chairman, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Ben Asogwa, said the NLC chieftain must have been misquoted regarding Enugu.
“The payment of N30,000 minimum wage and its consequential adjustment started in February 2020 for all the state workers while the local government workers and primary school teachers were paid with 25 per cent consequential adjustment.
However, Governor Peter Mbah on assumption of office approved the full implementation for Local Government workers and primary school teachers.
“Besides that, the Mbah administration has also been paying monthly wage awards of N10,000 to local government workers and primary school teachers and N25,000 to all categories of state workers from December, 2023 till date to cushion the current economic hardship pending the conclusion of negotiation of a new minimum wage.
“The governor recently approved the 100 per cent Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) for Nurses and Midwives and Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals in the state.
“So, nobody is talking about N30,000 minimum wage in Enugu again. We are actually waiting for the conclusion of negotiation of a new minimum wage, which our governor has already assured us that he would key into once the negotiation ends at Federal level,” Asogwa said.
