Governor Alex Otti of Abia State resolved an impending industrial conflict by agreeing with labor unions on how to roll out the new minimum wage.
The “friendly agreement” was reached after some disagreements between the Abia State House of Assembly and the State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress, who thought the House wanted to block local government autonomy with a bill.
The Information Commissioner, Okey Kanu, said on Tuesday that the government and labor sorted things out after talks on Monday.
He also mentioned that the new minimum wage payments will start by the end of the month as scheduled.
Kanu informed journalists at the government house that the state government and organized labor have come to a peaceful agreement regarding the new minimum wage payment issue.
He mentioned that the new minimum wage payment couldn’t begin on the usual 28th day of the month due to negotiations ending early Monday.
The Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Hon Emmanuel Emeruwa, told the Abia NLC leaders to stop making baseless claims about the state legislature.
The speaker was responding to NLC’s alarm about the House possibly passing a bill giving state governments 90% of local government funds, leaving councils with only 10%.
He stated that nothing like that had ever been seen before, challenging NLC to provide evidence of their claims.