The chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Anambra State, Comrade Jerry Nnubia, on Thursday said that the full implementation of the new minimum wage of N30,000 would ensure stability in Nigeria if state Governors comply.

Speaking during the 2019 NLC state delegates conference in Awka the state capital, Nnubia expressed hope that the Governors would not do anything that would cause unrest among Nigerian workers.

He urged state governors to reduce the cost of running government and also reduce some of their excesses to enable them implement the new minimum wage.

News Express reports that the new minimum wage was recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari after the bill to that effect was passed by the National Assembly.

He said: “The minimum wage is a product of negotiation and with the President signing it into law, we are expecting a circular to be released and when that is done, each state is bound to implement it. The state governments have no option than to implement it because they were part and parcel of all the negotiations.

“For us in Anambra State, we have the firm belief that our Governor will implement it fully. He has promised us and I am sure we are not going to have challenges in that regard,” he said.

Nnubia further hailed the National Assembly for the speedy passage of the New National Minimum Wage (2019) amendment bill and also President Buhari for assenting to the new bill on April 18, 2019.

He added: “We wish to use this platform to call on the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, NSIWC, to immediately issue out the implementation table to enable our hardworking and labour friendly governor, Chief Willie Obiano, who has already firmly promised to be the first governor to pay the new minimum wage for the hardworking workers of Anambra State, implement the new minimum wage.”

Information from the grapevine however has it that because the new minimum wage was not captured in the 2019 state appropriation bill, an inter-ministerial committee involving the Ministries of Finance, Economic Planning and Budget, as well as Justice, would work out the cost implication of the new wage bill for the state.

The state Governor, Willie Obiano, on his part had earlier announced that the state would need additional N2 billion monthly to be able to pay the new minimum wage.

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