Senator Orji Kalu has visited the Abia State Governor Alex Otti where he re-echoed his N90,000 minimum wage proposal for workers following the impasse between labour unions and the Federal Government about a new wage.
Uzor Kalu re-echoed his stance after the Friday visit where he held a closed-door meeting with Otti in his country home in the Isiala-Ngwa South Local Government Area of the South-East state.
The former Abia State governor said the Federal Government’s proposal of N62,000 might sound very good but believes N90,000 will be a better minimum wage.
“I’m also believing that N62,000 naira cannot do anything. I propose N90, 000. Why I propose N90,000 is very simple. We have not increased the minimum wage in five years,” he said.
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Bearing this in mind, and the increasing rate of inflation, Senator Kalu argued that N90,000 is a good place to peg the new minimum wage.
“This is why I say N90,000,” Kalu said. “I might be different from so many people that are in government but I’m a practical person. The civil servants need some good treatment and good behavior.
Labour unions had insisted on a N250,000 minimum wage following months of negotiations with government authorities and organised private sector.
President Bola Tinubu later received the recommendation of the tripartite committee on the new minimum wage and said the country would pay what it would afford to the workers.
Apart from the lingering minimum wage issue, Senator Kalu rated President Bola Tinubu’s performance one year after he assumed office. He believes the Nigerian president has done well in his economic policies but has failed in the aspect of taking care of increasing hunger in the land.
“I’m sure the president has done well in some areas and he also needs to improve in many other areas,” the lawmaker said. “I’m a very practical person. I fear nobody and I don’t support anybody. I support the truth.
“President Tinubu has done so well in some areas and has not done so well in others,” he said. “He has done well in economic policy; the monetary policy is very good but [not] with fiscal policies; we are not growing more food. I want us to grow more food.”
On his part, Otti said he would be fair to all Abians.
“So, it is in that spirit that I welcome you, not as a member of a different political party, but as the servant of the people of the Abia State of which you are one of them,” the Abia governor said.
“And as the governor of Abia State, I’m not a governor of any political party. Any political party that anybody belongs to is his choice. Once you are from Abia or you live in Abia, you are part and parcel of this government.”
