By Francesca Hangeior

Akwa Ibom State governor, Umo Eno, has directed the Office of the Accountant General of the state to implement the N80, 000 minimum wage to about 45,984 verified public servants in the state this January.

The payment will take effect on November 1, 2024, according to the press statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ekerete Udoh.

Udoh said the development followed the submission of the report by the Committee on the Implementation of the New Minimum Wage/Personnel Verification, headed by the Head of Service, Elder Effiong Essien, on Tuesday.

The governor, while thanking the Committee for the great work, called for an extension of the exercise to the retired workers’ Pension Schemes in the state.

“Let me thank the Committee for taking the time to deliver on this assignment. As I received this report today, my understanding is that before now, we had a staff strength of 55,120. Out of that, 52,177 persons turned out for the verification exercise, so we still have an outstanding number of 2,943 personnel who did not show up, while 6,193 have issues with their verification.

“Having received this report today, I will be signing this off to the Office of the Accountant General, Auditor General, and the Director of Budget to come up with the memo that they are ready to implement.

“For those who have been cleared—about 45,984 of them—we should be ready to pay the minimum wage at the end of this month, effective from November 1, 2024.

“The Civil Service forms a critical mass of employees in our state government. Since we came on board, their welfare has remained a key priority, and we will continue to do so. I believe this will help ameliorate the harsh economic environment we have found ourselves in, and I hope, by the grace of God, slowly, we will find our way out of it very soon.

“For the people who are yet to be verified, we will give another 30 days. After that, we will end the exercise. If they don’t show up within the time specified, we will take it that they are not civil servants, and their salaries will be stopped.

“We want to extend our hand of fellowship to the organized labour in the state and ask them to work with the government, as we all have a responsibility to Akwa Ibom State. We have done a lot to engender good government-labour relations. Since we came on board, we have paid over 47 billion in gratuities from the over 97 billion backlog we met since 2012, as well as several palliatives to the workers and people of Akwa Ibom State.” Eno said

He said he had accepted the recommendation of the Committee that the verification exercise should be done on a yearly basis. “I have received your recommendation that this exercise should be done on a yearly basis, and I think we will do so.

“Another area we will run verification is the pension payments. If what we uncovered can happen with serving personnel, then you can imagine what may be happening where people have unfortunately passed and are still being paid. We need to quickly carry out the verification exercise in that area too. So I am not dissolving the Committee now; we will extend the life of the Committee for another month.”

The Implementation Committee on the Minimum Wage was set up by Governor Eno last December to ensure a smooth rollout of the newly announced 80 thousand minimum wage.

“It had as Chairman, the Head of Service; Chairman, Civil Service Commission; Chairman, Local Government Service Commission; Permanent Secretaries; Ministries of Finance; Department of Establishments, Labour, and Manpower Planning; Solicitor General/Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Permanent Secretary and Accountant General; Permanent Secretary, Local Government Service Commission; Permanent Secretary, Office of the Head of Service; Director of Budget; State Chairman, Joint Public Service Negotiating Council; Secretary, Joint Public Sector Negotiating Council; State Chairmen, Nigerian Labour Congress; and State President, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees.

By Francesca Hangeior

Workers under the Nigerian Meteorological Agency have issued a 14-day ultimatum to the agency’s management to address longstanding welfare concerns or face a nationwide industrial action.

The unions said this in a letter titled “Failure to respond to lawful and reasonable demands—14 days ultimatum,” which our correspondent obtained on Wednesday.

It was signed by Ocheme Abah of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, Sikiru Waheed of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees, and Abdul Rasaq Saidu of the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals.

The unions accused NiMet’s management of neglecting workers’ welfare and failing to implement critical policies for staff wellbeing.

“We are highly concerned that your management has inexplicably refused all entreaties from our unions to address the extremely adverse circumstances of the workers at NiMet. Despite being evidently aware of the clear backward state of NiMet’s staff welfare status in the aviation industry, your Management remains unmoved and lethargic in addressing this obvious malady,” the letter read in parts.

According to the letter, management has ignored repeated calls to resolve issues such as the non-payment of nine months’ arrears under the 2019 Minimum Wage Act, failure to implement the reviewed scheme of service since 2019, and non-payment of allowances, including the 40 per cent peculiar allowance and hardship allowance.

“The workers of the Agency do not deserve the suffering that the actions and inaction of your Management continue to mete out to them,” the unions said.

Other grievances include non-compliance with ministerial directives for the review of Conditions of Service, non-payment of a 25-35 per cent wage award, and refusal to facilitate the transition from CONMETSS.

The letter emphasised that all workers of NiMet are directed to withdraw their services beginning at 6 a.m. on February 4, 2025, if the issues remain unresolved.

“In the light of the foregoing, we wish to inform you that the Unions as named above shall be moved to commence industrial action against the Agency after fourteen (14) days from the date of the stated issues are not completely ameliorated.

“Therefore, all workers of NiMet by a copy of this letter are hereby directed to withdraw all services at the Agency with effect from 6am on Tuesday 4 February 2025 unless otherwise.”

NiMet management is yet to respond to the ultimatum, raising tensions as the deadline approaches.

By Francesca Hangeior

Nigeria has condoled with the Government and People of Turkiye over the fire incident at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya Ski Resort where 76 people died.

This is contained in a statement by the acting spokesperson of Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, on Wednesday.

“The Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to express deep condolence to the Government and People of the Republic of Turkiye over the unfortunate fire incident at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya Ski Resort.

“The fire, which claimed the lives of 76 persons and injured more than 50 others in Bolu Province in Northwestern Turkiye, was reported to have started in the early hours of Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria sympathises with the Government of the Republic of Turkiye and the families of the victims of the fire incident, and also wishes a speedy recovery of the injured,” the statement said.