Imo state government has described as untrue and fallacious the allegation by the National secretariat of Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC), that it is among states yet to pay the N30,000 minimum wage.
It noted that apart from Imo State paying the thirty thousand wage since 2020, it has gone ahead to add another ten thousand, thus paying its workers N40,000 minimum wage.
The state Commissioner for information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Hon Declan Emelumba, condemned in strong terms the misinformation from National secretariat without reference to the Imo State chapter.
Emelumba, who was reacting to the statement by NLC in which Imo was listed as having not paid the N30,000 minimum wage, said the report was a vile propaganda to tarnish the image of the government.
He referred the National secretariat to a statement by the Imo State chapter where it clearly admitted that workers in the state had been receiving N30,000 minimum wage since 2020.
The Commissioner noted that the same state chapter also admitted that since the removal of fuel subsidy, the workers now receive N40,000 as minimum wage.
He wondered what the NLC National secretariat stood to gain by dishing out falsehood to Nigerians, whereas the workers in Imo have acknowledged the payment of N40,000 minimum wage to them by the state government.
Meanwhile, the organised Labour in Imo state yesterday debunked reports from its national headquarters that the state was among those yet to pay the N30,000 minimum wage.
It stated that contrary to such a ” misleading and mischievous ” report, Imo State government under Gov Hope Uzodimma has been paying the workers the Thirty thousand Naira minimum wage since year 2020.
In a statement signed by the Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress, Imo State chapter, Comrade Uche Chigemezu Nwigwe, Uzodimma had gone ahead to pay Imo workers an additional Ten thousand Naira, to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy.
” Since 2020,till now, Imo State workers have been on N30,000 minimum wage. The government, in an effort to alleviate the suffering of Imo State workers, increased the state minimum wage to N40,000, which has been effective, “the statement insisted.
It regretted that those who added Imo state to the list of states not paying N30,000 minimum wage wanted to cause friction between the workers and their leadership .
The statement averred that the only outstanding issue between the government and the workers is the payment of the consequential adjustment of the minimum wage, which Uzodimma had since approved.
It therefore urged members of the public to completely ignore the false information that Imo is among states that are yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage.
According to the statement, ” Imo workers are happy with their workers’ friendly governor who has even agreed to pay the new national minimum wage when negotiations are concluded “