Calabar, Cross River State – Governor Bassey Otu has charged the Joint Public Service Negotiation and Implementation Committee of the new N70,000 National Minimum Wage in the state, to submit its report within the shortest possible time.
Governor Otu gave the charge recently during the inauguration of the committee at the Glass House, the temporary office of the deputy governor in Calabar.
Represented by the deputy governor, Rt. Hon. Peter Odey, Otu assured that as soon as the report is received, he would immediately start the implementation of whatever is agreed by the committee.
“We would plead that you submit your report before the governor within the shortest possible time, once that is done, we will immediately start the implementation of what has been agreed.
“The administration of Prince Bassey Otu is christened ‘People First,’ so, the people will always come first and you will agree with me that he has been the most labour-friendly governor that we have in Nigeria and this would be reflected in the negotiation that you are going to see and the result of it is what all Cross Riverians would be happy that we indeed did the right thing as a state.
“We are going to be relying on this committee to guide us; that is why we have our Accountant General here to open the books so that we see what we have as a state because the government is willing and ready to meet with the yearnings of the people of Cross River,” Otu explained.
He implored the committee to come up with a minimum wage that would serve the people of the state and be in line with other states while taking into cognizance the peculiarity of the state.
On his part, the Chairman of the Cross River chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Gregory Olayi, applauded the governor for inaugurating the committee, a development he said has put in check some of the issues bothering the union.
Olayi assured that the labour union will cooperate with other members of the committee to work tirelessly to meet the timeline set for the team.
Responding, the State Head of Service and chairman of the committee, Dr Innocent Eteng, assured that his team would do its job painstakingly and in the interest of workers and the state at large.
“For us, it is very auspicious, we can assure you that we are going to do our job painstakingly and assiduously in the interest of Cross River State.
“We will discuss with labour very amicably to take into cognizance the circumstances of our peculiar situation as well as consider the interest of workers in the state,” Eteng remarked.
Members of the committee include a Special Adviser, labour and productivity; Permanent Secretaries of Ministries of Finance, Local Government Service Commission, Budget, and Justice, as well as the office of the Head of Service and SSG/GAO.
Others are: Accountant General of the State, Chairmen of NLC and TUC in the state, State President of NULGE, Chairman of joint service negotiating council; Chairman, Medical and health workers Union; Chairman, Parliamentary Staff Union; Secretary, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria; while the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Establishment is to serve as the committee Secretary.