How Ebonyi State Made History as First to Pay New Minimum Wage in Southeast Nigeria

By Agbo Anthony, Abakaliki/

Ebonyi State government on Friday commenced payment of January salaries to workers with the new minimum wage making the state the first to pay in line with the new salary structure in the state.

Some workers in the state capital, Abakaliki, confirmed getting alerts of their January salaries according to the new salaries structure.

Governor David Umahi had directed, during the week, that the January salaries of workers be paid with the new salaries structure adopted between Organized Labour in the state and government on or before January 10.

While giving the directive, Mr Umahi had said that the early payment was to aid the workers in starting the New Year on a solid footing after the spending done during the Yuletide.

The Commissioner for Information, Uchenna Orji, confirmed the payment of the salaries to the workers.

He said that since the governor’s first term, the state government had always paid salaries before the 15th of every month.

“But because the governor wanted to assist the workers after they might have spent a lot during the Christmas period, he decided that the workers be paid before 10th January to assist them to get back on their feet.

“With this payment, the governor has made history as about the first governor to implement the new minimum wage in Nigeria.”

He added that all civil servants in the state, including local government workers, had all been paid effective from Friday.

“All government appointees have also been paid their January salaries. This includes members of the State Executive Council and other appointees of the government.

“The governor has the welfare of workers at heart. He believes this will spur them to perform better,” Orji said.

According to Orji, the governor had in the past released over N4billion for workers to access as soft loan and grants to enable them to set up Agric businesses to boost their finances. 

Orji, who is also the acting Commissioner for Human Capital Development said the state government had commenced enumeration of employable Ebonyi people to enable them key into interventions of government.

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