Implement minimum wage, award for Abia workers, NLC urges Otti

Abia State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress has pleaded with the governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, to pay Abia workers the minimum wage, as well as the wage award due to them.

The state chairman of NLC, Comrade Ogbonnaya Okoro, handed down the appeal yesterday during a special thanksgiving ceremony of the current leadership of the National Union of Teachers, Abia State chapter.

Congratulating the state leadership of the NUT, Okoro said, “We are grateful for what Otti does, but like Oliver Twist, we want more. Pay us our minimum wage and wage award. Other states have paid their workers. Out of the five South-Eastern states, only Abia has not paid. Maybe this May Day, you will say something.”

National Vice Chairman of the NUT, Kizito Kalu, said being at the national headquarters is a good thing for Abia teachers, urging other unions to emulate Abia NUT for good things to come to them.

State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Uche, represented by her Head of Department, Scholarship, Angelina Nkoro, said Otti was a lover of education, who wants to take education to a higher height in the state, and advised the teachers to keep the flag flying.

Abia State Head of Service, Mrs Ngozi Queen Obioma, who was represented by Deaconess Hope Nwosu, commended the teachers for their successful election last year and urged them to reciprocate Otti’s resolve of making education in Abia the number one in Nigeria.

She urged them to correct anomalies in the system to make it great, stating that teachers in the state were previously owed, noting that now it is a thing of the past.

State NUT chairman, Comrade Friday Chukwujeku Madu, while peaking at the occasion held at Masters Vessel Church, Afara, disclosed that the thanksgiving was to appreciate God for their congress in 2023 that brought in the current executive, stating that so far, all has been well with them.

Madi enthused, “The leadership deemed it necessary to thank God for not losing any member since one year after the inauguration and the state also produced a national officer, Comrade Kizito Kalu. God has used Otti to put smiles on the faces of teachers in the state.”

He prayed to God to help him meet up with special packages for teachers in the state, including salary increments and service elongation.

He added, “Otti has maintained payment of salaries on the 28th of each month to primary and secondary schools, but we are still expecting the payment of arrears owed us by the Ikpeazu administration.”

Abia State NUT secretary, Nnenna Okonkwo, said, “So far, the NUT state executive has been there for one year without any summersault,” thanking God for the successful election one year ago.

Earlier in his admonition, the President of the Masters Vessel Ministry, Pastor Amarachukwu Uwaeziozi, explored the power of gratitude to God, stating, “If you can read and write, thank your teacher.”

He urged teachers in the state to continue with their good works, as “no good works will go unrewarded.”