Ebonyi state government will commence payment of the new minimum wage as agreed by the federal government and the Organised Labour from January, 2020.
The Herald reports Gov. David Umahi made this known on Friday, December 20,in Abakaliki while signing into law, the state’s 2020 budget as passed by the House of Assembly.
The governor signed N178 billion comprising recurrent expenditure of N46 billion and capital expenditure of N132 billion. Umahi, however, pleaded with the organised labour over the state government’s inability to pay arrears of the new wage.
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He said that the state had financial constraints a situation which everyone in the state understood.
According to him, “We however have the N500m approved by the State House of Assembly to assist workers and other segments of the society, engage in alternative means of livelihood which is agriculture.”
Meanwhile, The Herald reported that the chairman of Ohaukwu local government area of Ebonyi state, Clement Odah, on Wednesday, December 18, slapped Chinedu Onah, member of the assembly.
The Herald gathered that hundreds of thousands of youths in the state on Thursday, December 19, reacted to the development.
The youths staged protests at the state government House with placard written “Chinedu Onah, Don’t Allow Political Hartlot Use You In Ohaukwu LGA”.
The state House of Assembly immediately ordered the police to arrest and prosecute the council chairman. The House confirmed that Mr Odah allegedly assaulted Mr Onah in the committee room of the Assembly Complex located in Nkaliki, Ebonyi state.
Odah was reportedly angry that the House stopped the confirmation of four nominees for management committee members and Liaison officers during their screening at the Assembly.