Striking a balance btw minimum wage and Otti’s development blueprint – By Eagle Okoro
The Commissioner for Information and Culture in Abia State, Prince Okey Kanu, finally dropped the cheery news regarding the decision of the State Executive Council (SEC) to pay N70,000 Minimum Wage to civil servants in the state.
Kanu disclosed this while briefing newsmen at the Government House, Umuahia on the outcome of last Monday’s SEC meeting.
According to him, the decision to pay the minimum wage underscores government’s commitment to continuously address the welfare of workers in the state.
He said, “The State Government is committed to the minimum wage, and within the next few days, payment will commence.”
No doubt, the government’s resolution was a fait accompli, and the commissioner merely unveiled SEC’s endorsement for the commencement of its payment, with effect from October.
The news obviously brought joy to many, especially homes and families, where civil servants hold sway as breadwinners. It further put an end to speculations, conjectures and rumours churned out daily by the fifth columnists, working for the decimated opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), regarding government’s staņce on the issue.
But many fair-minded watchers of Gov. Alex Otti’s government in the last one year, plus five months had no misgivings that he would never go below the national benchmark, which became law with the enactment of the Minimum Wage Act 2024.
The only basic concern amongst analysts is how the administration intends to navigate through the enormous developmental challenges begging for attention and be able to strike a balance between dispensing the burden of the new wage bill and sustaining its pace on the multiple, capital-intensive projects that are simultaneously happening across the three senatorial districts of the state.
Let us pause at this juncture and take a cursory look at the major takeaways from the governor’s gesture in acceding to pay the minimum wage, notwithstanding the huge financial resources needed to, among other things, fix the dilapidated and virtually nonexistent infrastructure, sustain the ongoing human capital development and youth empowerment initiatives as well as reactivate the moribund sectors – all geared toward making Abia to work again.
First is that Gov. Otti clearly demonstrated that he has not abandoned the solemn covenant and social contract he entered with the Abia workers, in defiance to the continuously declining financial resources to tackle the daunting existential challenges bequeathed to his administration.
This laudable position, by extention, shows that he has not forgotten the huge, super-structured, organised and unprecedented support he received from the workers ahead of the 2023 governorship poll, a huge sacrifice that culminated into his landslide against an incumbent Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu.
Secondly, the gesture further showed that the administration remains people-oriented and development focused. And that he would not shirk his responsibility and avowed commitment to guaranteeing the welfare and wellbeing of Abia civil servants and, of course, non civil servants, alike.
Moreso, Gov. Otti stoutly demonstrated that he remains absolutely resolute and unwavering in building a new Abia, where the progress and prosperity of the state and its good people top his priority list, without minding the falsehood and distractions from a few antagonists, who are still sulking and agonising in muffled voices from PDP’s rusty warehouse.
Besides, the governor believes that the best way to encourage a productive, efficient and stable civil service is by paying appropriate and reasonable wage to motivate the workforce. As a consumate administrator, he knows that an efficient, happy and result-driven civil service can only be emplaced with properly motivated and rewarded workers. Hence, he did not waver nor procrastinate in implementing his campaign promise to defray the humongous unpaid arrears of salaries that PDP mindlessly accummulated between 2015 and 2023, totalling over N18 billion.
Therefore, the remnants of disgruntled PDP elements, led by the former Commissioner for Information, John Okiyi Kalu (JOK), alias Nwandugbom, who has made himself the arrowhead of a tiny, ineffectual opposition, that has persistently sponsored the rumour and falsehood in the media that Gov. Otti is anti-workers, should do well to purge themselves of any illusion that Abia workers have so early in the day forgotten those hellish days of work without pay! Isn’t that delusional and hallucinational to expect the Israelites to forget their years of slavery and sufferings in the land of Egypt?
But the fundamental question is, which an anti-workers’ governor, the whole wide world, would undertake to liquidate a huge debt of salary arrears he did not owe? I only know of one altruistic, compassionate, benevolent and sacrificial superhuman that undertook to pay the debt He did not owe. And His name is Jesus Christ. Remember the popular number by the famous American gospel singer, Alton Hardy Howard: “He paid the debt He did not owe”.
So, it is a sheer aberration for the shameless opposition to tag the same governor that cleared PDP’s debt as anti-workers. Only Gov. Otti has the capacity to pay a debt he did not owe, after Christ!
Nevertheless, the unwarranted and undeserved attack is not strange because the same Christ that bore our debt was crucified by the same Jews, who preferred the armed robbers – which in Abia context, meant PDP that ruined the state and suffocated its workers for 24 long years.
Again, branding Gov. Otti as anti-workers is not only exteme absurdity, but a mischievous, futile ploy to pitch Abia workers against his caring and sensitive government. Gladly, only the minute nitwitted among the populace can fall for the cheap blackmail.
Without being immodest, it will suffice to put the fact straight that the N70,000 benchmark was reached by the Federal Government and organised labour without taking into cognisance the peculiarities of the states and their ability to pay, an action that further exposed the faultlines of Nigeria’s federal system of government.
That the governor selflessly resolved, ipso facto,
to accede to the benchmark, notwithstanding the Abia peculiarities and huge developmental needs, deserves commendation from the organised labour in the state.
It is gratifying that the government and organised labour have commenced negotiation for consequential adjustments to arrive at a realistic rate that is mutually acceptable to government and labour.
But it is still not clear how the government plans to sustain its current developmental strides in all the sectors, alongside its policy of ensuring that salaries are paid as and when due.
It is not in doubt that prompt payment of salaries helps the average civil servant to plan his expenditure in order to remain afloat for the “30 days that make one pay”. However, it is pertinent to appreciate that the larger population of non-civil servants also look onto the government to provide the basic social amenities and infrastructural facilities that make life meaninful.
So, beyond his unrivalled infrastructure development and salary payment, the governor has accorded serious attention to five other critical sectors, such as security, education, investment, climate change, and pensions payment.
Recall that the governor declared a state of emergency on those key sectors and has been doing great exploits to change the ugly narrative. He also extended equal attention to other priority areas, including health, environment and agriculture, amongst others.
Of course, the deliverables from these sectoral performances constitute the dividends of democracy and good governance. They also formed the cornerstone of the governor’s campain manifesto, which he is obigated to accomplish, besides regular payment of workers’ salaries.
Therefore, the supplication now should be for the governor to continue to muster the political will and enabling wherewithal to sufficiently maintain a fairly stable equilibrium, while implementating his robust and impactful development blueprint.
This is critical to the overall success of his administration because developing the physical infrastructure, providing functional and efficient education and healthcare systems as well as regular payment of workers’ salaries and pensions are all essential parameters by which this administration would forever be scrutinised and evaluated at the end of the first four years.
– Eagle Okoro is a Public Affairs analyst and writes from Umuahia