By Pascal Ibe
Claim
An X user known as Dr Penking has claimed that Abia State under governor Otti’s administration is still paying 18,000 as minimum wage to workers.
Verdict
Findings showed that the claim is true. But the governor on May 1, said that his government will be the first to pay whatever becomes the new national minimum wage.
The NLC and the federal government are currently negotiating for a permanent new minimum wage.
Full Text
An X user named Dr Penking on Wednesday claimed that the administration of governor Alex Otti is still paying workers N18,000 as minimum wage.
The on post on X with over 108k likes as at Thursday morning, received outrageous disagreements by many users.
The post reads, “This man is still paying 18 000 as minimum wage in 2024. This is 5 years after all the states in Nigeria moved to 30 000 Naira as minimum wage. In fact, some states have moved to 70 000 Naira in 2024 but this man is still paying 18 000 Naira but according to some people he is the best governor in the world“
This man is still paying 18 000 as minimum wage in 2024. This is 5 years after all the states in Nigeria moved to 30 000 Naira as minimum wage. In fact, some states have moved to 70 000 Naira in 2024 but this man is still paying 18 000 Naira but according to some people he is… pic.twitter.com/YyoRQg2kSu
— Dr Penking™🇳🇬🇦🇺 (@drpenking) May 28, 2024
Some persons refuted the claim, noting that Abia State Civil servants are the best paid in the whole of southeast.“Go and verify“.
Abia State Civil servants are the best paid in the whole of southeast.
Go and verify— Cyril Onyekachi (@ogbucyril) May 28, 2024
crimefacts.news decides to run a fact check on this.
Verification
First, in a news story published on Vanguard on May 26 ,2024, the Labour Congress in Abia State issued an ultimatum to Abia government over non payment of the current N30,000 minimum wage.
The organized Labour in Abia state handed a 14-day ultimatum to Governor Alex Otti, to ensure full payment of the N30,000 national minimum wage and the N35,000 palliative wage award approved by the federal government for workers in the state.
In a letter addressed to Governor Otti, by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Abia state council and Trade Union Congress, TUC, Abia state council, the organized Labour requested that the N30,000 former national minimum wage and the N35,000 wage award approved by the federal government 8 months ago for workers be paid without further delay to Abia workers.
Labour also noted that a committee was set up to produce a salary structure based on the N30,000 former national minimum wage which the state government failed to implement.
This report was also published by other credible news organizations in Nigeria, like the Punch newspaper, Business Day, etc.
In a feature by DailyPost in May 2023, Chijindu Emeruwa disclosed that under ex gov Okezie Ikpeazu administration, the minimum wage has been a mirage for workers in Abia State. the feature revealed that civil servants continue to lick their wounds over their government’s failure to implement the national wage in the final hours of the Okezie Ikpeazu administration. Many of them, harbouring grudges against the government for unpaid salaries and allowances, feel the state government has taken them for granted.
Unlike some states that were unwilling to commit to the new wage scheme, the Abia State Government agreed to pay a minimum wage of N30,000 to its civil servants.
On behalf of the state government, the agreement was formalised and signed by Sir Onyii Wamah, Dr Aham Uko, and Dr Anthony Agbazuere, Head of Service, Commissioner of Finance, and Chief of Staff, respectively.
Chris Okoro of the Public Service Joint Negotiating Council, Uchenna Obigwe of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Sunny Onwuma of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and Kennedy Nwaigwe of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) signed the agreement on behalf of the state’s workers.
The parties agreed that the new wage payment would go into effect in January 2020, and Labour agreed to the necessary adjustments.
Abia monitoring FG, labour negotiation
On May 30, 2024, the Abia State government stated that they are monitoring the ongoing negotiations for wage awards for Abia civil servants and their welfare, at the federal level.
According to PunchOnline, this position was reiterated as the state government briefed the press on the outcome of the week’s State Executive Council meeting chaired by Governor Alex Otti.
Addressing journalists, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Chinedu Ekeke, stated, “Our stand is that we do not want to go ahead of the federal government to make proclamations on that because we do not know where the direction that the federal government is headed.”
On May 01, 2024, Alex Otti assured workers that his government will be amongst the first to pay whatever becomes the new national minimum wage.
According to TheSun, Governor Otti stated this while addressing Abia workers on the occasion of the 2024 Workers’ Day held at the Umuahia Township Stadium.
He assured that he would backdate the implementation and pay its arrears to the state workers.
The governor promised to look into the request for payment of the approved wage award expeditiously, saying that the arrears of the leave allowances and salaries owed by the immediate past administration would be paid case by case while assuring that never again would the workers be owed in Abia state
Otti, acknowledging the ingenuity of the of the Abia workforce, said it would be workers first in the new Abia.
“Others are Paying N70,000 Asi Minimum Wage “
Also, looking into the other claim by the X user, Dr Penking, that some States have began payment of N70,000 as minimum wage, CrimeFacts news found out it’s only Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo State who announced 70,000 minimum wage for workers in the State.
No other State in Nigeria has made similar increase on the minimum wage.
At the moment, crimefacts.news cannot verify if the implementation of N70,000 minimum wage by Edo State government has commenced.
A Look At Nigeria’s Workers Minimum Wage Structure Since 1999
The minimum wage in Nigeria has been revised a number of times but has not kept pace with the cost of living. It became 250 naira in 1991, 5,500 naira in 2000 and 18,900 naira in 2011. The current 30,000 naira took effect in 2020.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s signing into law of a new minimum wage of N30,000 on April 17, 2020, was a watershed moment in the country’s workers’ welfare history.
Senator Ita Enang, the President’s Senior Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters at the time, told journalists, “The bill makes it mandatory for employers of labour in both public and private organisations to pay N30,000 as minimum wage.”
Conclusion
The claim by an X user named Dr Penking that Abia State governor, Alex Otti is still paying N18,000 as minimum wage is true, despite disagreement and abusive commentson that post.
However, governor Otti said that his administration will be the first to pay whatever becomes the new national minimum wage.
The NLC and the federal government are currently negotiating for a permanent new minimum wage.
