#30,000 MINIMUM WAGE: IMO READY TO PAY

The Imo State Government says it will not hesitate to implement any amount approved by the National Assembly as a new minimum wage. The Secretary to the State Government Chief Mark Uchendu disclosed this in Owerri while addressing workers who were on sensitization rally to press home demand for new national minimum wage.

Chief Uchendu noted that government was aware of the plight of workers in the state hence it had decided to be paying salaries in advance to ameliorate their sufferings.

“We appreciate your problem we appreciate your predicament but this has to be a national decision, no state will jump the queue until the National Assembly has done the needful by passing this law, as usual when it was eighteen thousand

“Owelle gave you twenty thousand when we come back from National Assembly we will also apply the Imo formula,” Chief Uchendu stated.

The State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Austin Chilakpu, who spoke on behalf of the other affiliate members of the organized labour appealed to the Federal Government to urgently transmit the new national minimum wage bill to the National Assembly. He described as false the claims that some states cannot to afford the proposed thirty thousand naira wage and called on workers to vote against any candidate that is not willing to implement the wage.

“This is the last we are going to talk about this issue of minimum wage and we are going into the last stage and that is confrontation, so it means if Federal government fails to transmit this bill to the National Assembly I don’t think we have any other alternative than to go home until they do this, Any government that is unable to pay there is no need you coming into government”.

Members of the organized labour, who matched along major streets of Owerri later handed over their protest letter to the Secretary to the State government for onward transmission of the document to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Chinazo Ilechukwuq