Anambra State Government on Tuesday, refuted claims by a national daily, listing Anambra as one of the 27 states that have yet to establish committees on the new minimum wage.
A Punch Newspaper report of Sunday, 11th August 2024, titled, ‘27 states, FCT yet to set up minimum wage panels’, included Anambra State among the 27 states that have not set up committees to implement the recently approved N70,000 minimum wage.
The states listed in the report alongside Anambra included Plateau, Kebbi, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Bayelsa, Delta, Osun, Ekiti, Zamfara, Benue, Enugu, Taraba, Gombe, Kogi, Enugu, Adamawa, Niger, Imo, Ebonyi, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Katsina, Kaduna, Cross River and Yobe.
Seven other states were listed by the report, to have set up the committees namely Kano, Kwara, Ogun, Borno, Jigawa, Ondo, and Abia, while only Lagos and Edo were said to have started paying the minimum wage.
President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage into law on July 29, 2024, after meeting with leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria.
Reacting to the report, the State Commissioner for Information, Sir Paul Nwosu said the report as it concerns Anambra State was not true, as the State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, was the first to constitute a minimum wage committee even before the crisis over minimum wage escalated.
“Anambra State Committee on Minimum Wage was precisely set up on the 22nd May 2024, two months before President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage into law on July 29, 2024.
“This was after a meeting between the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC with the State Government at the Government House, Awka.
“The Minimum Wage Committee comprises the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), the Head of Service (HOS), Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, the State Chapters of Nigerian Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria and Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria as members, including the executive and legislative arms of local governments.
“Local correspondents and reporters of news organisations should always endeavour to verify their news materials before publication to avoid embarrassing the organisations they represent,” Nwosu posited.
