The Vice Chancellor of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, Professor Aloysius-Michaels Okolie, on Wednesday, inaugurated the committee on the implementation of the new minimum wage.

While inaugurating the committee in his office, in Agbani, Enugu State, he explained that the committee became necessary following the directive of the state Commissioner of Education, Prof. Ndubueze Mbah, to collate relevant data and work out modalities for implementation of the N80,000 minimum wage as approved by the Governor of the state, Barr. Ndubuisi Mbah.

The committee which was headed by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Chike Nwoha, was given the following terms of references:

“To collate data from sister State universities in the South East and two federal universities from the zone on the implementation plan, including pattern of consequential adjustments.

“To determine workable strategies for implementing the new minimum wage for ESUT workers.

“To develop a template for presenting the findings to His Excellency for adjustments in the monthly subvention paid by the Government.

“To advise on other measures for liquidating other outstanding debts owed to ESUT workers.”

Other members of the committee include the ESUT Registrar, Ambrose Ugwu; ESUT Bursar, Dr. Austin Ojeh; ESUT ASUU chairman, Professor Emeka Nnamani; ESUT SSANU Acting chairman, Mr. Ikechukwu Ezeanioma.

The rest include, ESUT NASU chairman, Cosmas Aja; ESUT NAAT chairman, Mrs. Antonia Onyia; and the Deputy Registrar- Establishment, Victor Nwachukwu who would serve as the secretary of the committee.

In his post inauguration remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Professor Nwoha, thanked the Vice Chancellor for finding them worthy to serve.

Though he said that the responsibility was tasking, he assured that given the capacities of the members of the committee, they would not fail to deliver on their mandates.

The committee has two weeks to submit its report.

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The Vice-Chancellor, ESUT, Professor Aloysius-Michaels Okolie has disclosed that the Enugu State Government has not increased the University’s subvention for the past two and a half decades

The Vice-Chancellor who stated his in an Interview on the backdrop of the implementation of the ₦80, 000 new minimum wage in the university, noted that the management would not be able to effectively pay the new minimum wage without an upward review in the monthly subvention the school receives from the government.

Prof Okie who acknowledged the management’s readiness to pay, added that the new minimum wage will scale up the wage bill, thus the need for review.

“If you approve new minimum wage, you have to increase subvention. For now, subvention hasn’t been increased for the past 25 years,” the VC said.

He noted that with new programmes being incorporated into the university, new challenges such as staffing would arise as well as the additional salary

“Even with all these new programmes, the subvention is just ₦136 million, and our wage bill is about N440 million.

“The local governments pay N68 million, and if you add that to the state government’s contribution, you get N204 million.

“The last time we checked, they owed us N82 million. Unremitted subvention from the local government hasn’t been updated to know if it has reached N100 million.

“As of May, they owed us over N200 million. We used JAC to ask for the money, and it’s piling up again as debt. In fact, I have to tell you that we received subvention from the state government for November on December 19. If we had waited, we would be paying staff their November salaries on December 20.

“These are the challenges. We are ready to pay the new minimum wage but we also need the state government to review the subvention we are receiving,” the Vice-Chancellor concluded

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By Joseph Joy, Chiekezie Emmanuel, Onyekachi Agu and Ani Ruth

Enugu – In November, the Enugu State Government began the implementation of the ₦80, 000 new minimum wage as approved by the Governor, Barr Dr Peter Ndubisi Mbah in October.

The Governor had in October approved N80,000 minimum wage for the state’s work force, including local government workers, effective October 2024.

Although the Governor lived up to his promise by starting the payment of the new minimum wage to the state workers, ESUT Monitor can authoritatively report that the staff of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, owned by the state government, are not part of those who are currently being paid the new minimum wage.

Prior to the Christmas and New Year break on Friday December 20, various unions in ESUT had threatened to embark on industrial action to press home their demand for inclusion and other outstanding benefits.

This paper understands that while the threat to down tools, perhaps when the university resumes on Monday, January 6, 2025 has not been waved, the staff are agitated over their exclusion from the new minimum wage payment.

Investigation shows that ESUT Staff were also excluded from the wage award of N25,000 the Governor approved for workers from December 2023 till October 2024 when the new minimum wage of N80,000 was approved and consequently reflected in the November salary

Speaking in an exclusive interview with our reporters, ESUT’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Aloysius-Michaels Okolie acknowledged that indeed the staff of the university are not yet paid but offered explanations.

He noted that situation is not perculiar to ESUT but affects all Enugu State owned tertiary institutions who are receiving subventions from the government. He explained further that the ESUT management, likewise other institutions’ Managements are waiting for the state government to issue them a White Paper on the Consequential Adjustment relating to the implementation of the new minimum wage.

“The Council discussed this in our last meeting before we went on break. We’re waiting for the document that reflects the consequential adjustment. Most of them at the ministry aren’t very concerned about consequential adjustments. When you increase the minimum wage, there’s a White Paper that guides the consequential adjustment. We haven’t seen that from the governor.

“You don’t become arbitrary when you increase the minimum wage. It’s not enough to say they’ve increased it, but once the government issues us a White Paper stating the increment, procedure of consequential adjustment, reflecting on what they’ll bring, ESUT will equally join. Assuming they bring 33% from the local government, the implication is that ESUT has been bringing 57% and augmenting it.

“If you move people below ₦80, 000 to ₦80, 000 you should have consequential adjustments. The picture at the ministries isn’t clear, though we discussed it at the Council. How can we get them to bring the White Paper that will guide us to do the needful?

“This issue does not affect only ESUT but also no state university in Enugu State has started implementing it because of the challenges I explained. The heads of other tertiary institutions face the same challenges. We want to pay, but the government must bring consequential adjustments with matching upgrades so we can start paying,” the VC explained.

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