Chief Akai Egwuonwu, also known as “Anambra Rice,” the Chief Executive Officer of Stine Industries; a reputable Nigerian industry with an interest in agriculture, food production, retailing, shipping, and oil and gas, has said that his company’s compliance with the new minimum wage of N70 thousand Naira is borne out of conviction. This, he disclosed during a recent interview session with the West African Pilot News, in his office.
According to Chief Akai Egwuonwu who has a total number of about two thousand workers across his various businesses, even the new minimum wage is not much for anybody to get by. Hence, he revealed that his compliance with the new minimum wage was a moral issue for him given the economic realities of the day. “If you look at the economic situation in Nigeria and the welfare of your workers, first of all, you will realize that the cost of transportation to work is very high. The cost of feeding is equally very high. A salary of N70,000 will not be sufficient for anybody. A bag of rice is N92,000, so can you imagine where salary can’t buy a bag of rice? So, we didn’t do that because of the government. We did it for moral reasons,” Chief Egwuonwu said.
The Federal Government of Nigeria’s recent review of the new minimum wage has been received with mixed feelings in many quarters. Many privately owned businesses are struggling with an upward review of their workers’ take-home pay. However, some are of the conviction that even the N70 000 is not enough, given the prevailing economic circumstances.
For Chief Egwuonwu, businesses should stick to their values and consider the welfare of their workers. He also hinted that both government and businesses must maintain a cordial relationship in the best interest of the society at large.
He is a Technical Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on Legislative Matters, whoonce was a Special Adviser to a former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly. Ebuka is a second class upper division graduate of Political Science from University of Calabar, Calabar Nigeria and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science with specialization in Government and Development Studies, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria
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