Nigerian university workers protest non-implementation of new minimum wage

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Staff members of the Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU), Ikot Akpaden, on Friday, protested in the streets of Uyo, demanding the payment of two months’ salaries owed them by the Akwa Ibom State Government.

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In a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Friday, the Chairperson of the Academic Staff Union in the institution, Frank Namso, and the Chairperson of the Non-Academic Staff Union, Mefiok Umanah, said they are also demanding the implementation of the N80,000 minimum wage for their members.

Minimum wage

Governor Umo Eno last October announced N80,000 as the new minimum wage for workers in the state, an amount that is N10,000 higher than the N70,000 approved by the federal government.

The implementation of the new wage began in 2025 after the completion of the staff verification exercise, a condition, Mr Eno said, must be fulfilled before commencement of payment.

Messrs Namso and Umanah told this newspaper that while other civil servants in the state had begun receiving the new minimum wage, the state government had yet to implement it for workers in the institution.

“The issue is that since the implementation of the new minimum wage in the state, workers in the state university have not been paid..

“We’ve not been paid May and June salaries. We are protesting to tell the state government to pay us our new minimum wage from last November to date and pay us our May and June salaries,” Mr Umana said.

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“Most of our children are not in school, and examinations have started,” he said, referring to secondary school examinations.

“By April, we were captured,” he said, when asked if their workers were not captured in the staff audit done by the state government.

In a post on Facebook, the workers could be seen in a video marching and chanting solidarity songs with placards with different inscriptions at the Ministry of Science and Digital Economy.

“Show AKSU mercy,” one placard read. “We are starving. AKSU cries,” another read. “Digital Economy Commissioner, there is God oo.”

Asked why they protested at the Ministry of Science and Digital Economy and called out the commissioner, Mr Namso said they were told the commissioner is in charge of the payment database after the state government reportedly terminated the contract of a former consultant.

READ ALSO: Gov Eno adds shopping city to Akwa Ibom tourism project

He said they resorted to a protest after several official communications to the governor failed to yield results.

Mr Namso said Udo Kieran, an aide to Governor Eno on Labour Matters, addressed the workers and fixed a meeting with them on Monday.

Mr Kieran is a former chairperson of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the state.

The Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umanah, did not respond to a text message and calls seeking comments on the matter.