The size of Akwa Ibom government workforce that was a guarded secret over the years has been revealed by the secretary of Nigeria Labour Congress in the state.
The workforce comprises civil, teaching and local government services.
Announcing this in Citixen Assembly programme aired by XL 106.9 FM, Uyo on Wednesday, May 1, the secretary of Nigeria Labour Congress, Akwa Ibom council, Comrade Alpha Marshall said the numerical strength of the workforce was legitimised at 51,000 workers on the nominal roll as of last year.
Marshall said the figure was bandied by the state government during a meeting of an 18-man Palliatives Committee in which NLC was a member inaugurated to oversee the distribution of palliatives to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal on the people.
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He said initially NLC had estimated that the workforce was 53,000, but the actual figure emerged after their meeting on how palliatives would be shared to the workers.
Asked if Edo is paying the Minimum Wage to workers in its employ because of its buoyancy, he rejected the notion that the state is not paying due its financially buoyant nature.
According to him, Akwa Ibom government is richer than Edo and collects fatter monthly allocation from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee.
According to him, Akwa Ibom government is richer than Edo, yet it does not pay its workers a new Minimum Wage.
Last week, Edo Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki had announced N70,000 Minimum Wage to workers in its employ.
In addition, Ebonyi and Cross River States have announced adding N10,000 to the Minimum Wage of their workers.
But, Governor Umo Eno assured Akwa Ibom workers of state government readiness to implement the new minimum wage as will be declared by the Federal Government.
On the issue of minimum wage for workers, he said, “We will wait on the federal government to provide more details and we will implement the new minimum wage for our workers.’’
