By: Mazi Ejimofor Opara
It is bewildering how, just few hours after the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) stormed out of an ongoing negotiation with the Federal Government on the new minimum wage, Mr Joe Ajaero the President of the NLC has mischievously decided to single out Governor Soludo for victimization through his ill-informed media persecution.
As at today, there is no official communication from the Anambra Chapter of the NLC or their TUC counterpart to the Anambra State government suggesting any kind of ill-treatment deserving of the industrial action Ajaero is deviously instigating through a letter seen in some quarters of the social media.
By this letter, Ajaero is leaving no one in doubt that his intentions are much more than meets the eyes. Else, how does Ajaero explain to sane minds that a purported agreement supposedly reached between the Labour Union and the Anambra State government in 2019 – – 3 years before Soludo’s emergence as the Governor of Anambra State and 5 years in 2024 should now be made enforceable by an industrial action just few hours after a failed negotiation between the NLC and the Federal government on the new minimum wage.
It is very important at this point to state clearly that Governor Soludo has in 2years led the most Labour friendly administration in the history of the State, going further to set even a National record as the first State Governor in the country to employ over 10,000 workers in two years. The first batch of 5,000 teachers were recruited under his first six (6) months in office; another 3,000 teachers recruitment has just been concluded; 1,000 health workers have also been recruited across the State and over 2,000 Security officials have been recruited into the Anambra Vigilante Service. It is on record that Governor Soludo has resolved the over 14years of impasse between the Anambra State government and the defunct Staff of the Anambra State Water Corporation and ANSEPA.
In Anambra today the State`s civil servants across board have long been enjoying Gov. Soludo’s 10% salary increase which commenced in January of year 2023. This was followed by a four month wage award of 12,000 naira announced by Gov. Soludo for the over 60,000 workers and Pensioners in Anambra from September to December of the year 2023 to cushion the impact of the subsidy removal on workers. This is a verifiable fact Joe Ajaero could have easily established before before issuing his ill-fated call for an industrial action in Anambra. Under the Soludo Administration, Anambra Civil servants have begun a seamless transition to digital work processes. They have been trained on critical software packages related to their work space and empowered with digital work tools like Desktop computers and laptops to aide the process. Governor Soludo has also distributed over 2000 laptops to Teachers and education Administrators in the State.
For a matter as sensitive and pervasive as the minimum wage, which has National implications, Mr Ajaero should have known better than his current posturing of personalizing the discourse, making Soludo the victim of his regrettable vendetta mission for reasons only him can explain.
We must state that it is an act of evil genius that Ajaero would want to upset the peaceful relations between the Anambra State government and the Labour force. Governor Soludo has continued to insist that Anambra worker’s welfare is not one to be politicized under any guise, this is why Ajaero must be called to order. He must stop forthwith from playing politics with the welfare of workers.
