Sunny James, the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Akwa Ibom, has cautioned civil servants in the state against embarking on strike.
News About Nigeria reports that this comes on the heels of the federal government’s delay in minimum wage implementation.
Speaking on Tuesday in an interview with journalists, James said it was “too early” to accuse the state government of failure to implement the new wage regime.
He said that the Governor Umo Eno-led Government had yet to receive the implementation template from the National Salary and Wages Commission.
“Our workers should know that it doesn’t work that way. There must be a salary table drawn by the National Salary and Wages Commission before states can commence implementation,” he said.
“I urge them to stop such a plan immediately if there is any. Let’s allow due process to be followed.”
Recall that some civil servants in the state are expressing worries over the delay in the implementation of the recently approved N70,000 minimum wage.
On July 29, President Bola Tinubu enacted the N70,000 new National Minimum Wage Act
According to Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), labour accepted the ₦70,000 offer due to the government’s commitment to review the minimum wage every three years, rather than the previous five-year cycle.
However, the development aligned with the President’s pledge expressed during his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, to send an executive bill on the new national minimum wage to the legislature for passage
In 2019, Former President Muhammadu Buhari signed a minimum wage of N30,000 into law.
