The Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah has announced cash awards for the state workers and an increase in the number of indigent persons to be enrolled in the state’s social register.
Speaking to newsmen and the Labour leaders on Wednesday at the Government House, the Governor said his administration’s focus is on the welfare of her citizens so as to achieve a zero percent poverty headcount index by 2031;
As a palliative to alleviate the hardship occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy, the Governor said a cash award between ten to twenty-five thousand naira only (N10,000-N25,000) will be paid to workers while also increasing the social register which captured 43,000 indigent persons to 260,000.
“With effect from next month (December), we are going to make a flat payment to all categories of our workers, beginning from our local government workers to the primary and secondary school teachers, and civil servants. We are going to categorize them, and there will be a flat payment of between N10,000 and N25,000, depending on the category; that payment is going to continue till April.”
“Our hope is that by the end of April, the committee reviewing the minimum wage would have come out with what would then become the new minimum wage in the state. So, from there, we are just going to carry on the implementation of what is then set as the minimum wage,” the Governor announced.
On the social register, Mbah said, “Importantly, the state is just concluding the update of our social register. We have now expanded our social register from 43,000 to accommodate up to 260,000 indigent people in our state. That is also a platform that we are going to use to do cash transfers to engage our indigent ones,” Governor Mbah reveals.
The Governor further revealed that the state set aside one billion, five hundred million naira only for social development interventions on water and sanitation, construction of 260 model primary healthcare centers, and 260 smart schools with accompanying teachers’ quarters.
In response, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Fabian Nwigbo thanked the governor for the proactive steps toward the welfare of Enugu workers;
“I am overwhelmed by your pronouncements this afternoon. We are grateful for the announcement because there was no ‘war-war’ to get this. This one came on a platter of gold. We did not come begging and crying or shouting and agitating. It was out of the abundance of your heart that you decided to greet us with this big news,” Comrade Nwigbo said.
The State Chairman Trade Union Congress (TUC) Comrade Benneth Asogwa, in his response applauding the state government’s decision and welfare plans said “You have made us today understand that all you said during the election were no political promises. We have come to realize that you meant business. If you could move this far within a few months of taking over as the governor of Enugu State, that means we are very sure that our tomorrow is bright.”
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