September 02, (THEWILL) – The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Akwa Ibom State chapter, Comrade Sunny James, has warned workers in the state to desist from any plan of going on strike or face stringent sanctions.
The warning by the NLC chairman came on the heels of threats by workers in the state to embark on strike, in protest of none payment of the New Minimum wage by the state government.
Explaining the cause of the delay, Comrade James said that the state government is yet to receive the template for implementation of the new minimum wage from National Salary and Wages Commission.
“They cannot try it. I will be mad with such group of workers in this state.
“Tell them that it doesn’t work like that. There must be a salary table drawn by National salary and Wages Commission before states can commence their implementation of the new wage bill.
“I have tried for workers in this state and they cannot behave funny. Tell them to stop such plans immediately”, he maintained.
Some workers including teachers in Akwa Ibom, who bared their grievances over the unpaid minimum wage to journalists in Uyo, threatened to embark on industrial action complaining that government has remains silence over implementation of the new minimum wage bill in the state.
They said they are worried by the suspense posture of pastor Umo Eno over the implementation of the new N70,000, minimum wage.
THEWILL recalls that Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, while the Federal Government discussion on the new salary structure for the nation’s workforce lasted, had promised to pay whatever the federal government will arrive at.
A visit to Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat, the home of over 90 percent of workers in the state, civil servants were sighted in clusters, discussing the issue.
One of them, who pleaded anonymity explained that they were getting more worried by the day as the governor seems not to be in a hurry to make any pronouncement on the matter.
According to the worker, Pastor Umo Eno does not seem to be worried or disturbed about the plight of civil servants in the state.
“Imagine non-oil producing states like Adamawa and Ebonyi, announcing the swift implementation of the new minimum wage with effect from September, which is this month but our state with the highest federal government monthly allocation not making any move to implement same”, the source lamented.
“Our Governor has not even bothered to set up an implementation committee not to talk of making any statement about this very sensitive issue which has become a national discourse as it were. His continuous mute keeping attitude on this burning issue is a serious source of worry to us who are at the receiving end. Our families are starving as we are faced with the food inflation ever in the history of Nigerian nation”, lamented another civil servant (names withheld) in a chat with this reporter, as he also regretted the inactive labour in the state to champion workers’ cause.
