By Anayo Okoli
LABOUR Party has promised to implement fully the new national minimum wage as proposed by the Federal Government in Abia State, if voted into power in the state.

The governorship candidate of the party in the state, Chief Stanley Ohajuruka, who made the promise Tuesday in Umuahia, while unveiling his running mate, Chief Allen Wogu, said  Nigerian workers needed to be appreciated.

Ohajuruka regretted that the welfare of journalists, who he described as “nation builders”, had never been taken seriously by any administration.

He said: “One of the first things we will do is to ensure the payment of pension arrears and improve workers’ welfare.

“We will ensure proper remuneration for journalists in the state by making sure that their welfare is commensurate with their input in the economy.

“Our LP will pay workers the new minimum wage because we want to lift the living standard of our people and I can only do it with a man I trust.”

“We are witnesses to what has been happening in our state which has brought serious political and economic challenges to our people.”According to Ohajuruka, the “Abia Formula” that was adopted in paying workers was regrettable, saying “this has left the workers in the state ever impoverished”.

He said that the party would partner with the masses “because LP is for the masses and our allegiance will only be to the people who will elect us”.

He said that the education sector would witness free education with no hidden charges at all while boarding system of education would be reintroduced in the state.

Responding, Wogu, 46, who hails from Obingwa council area of the state, said “I am excited to work with my best friend. I have known Ohajuruka for 26 years and this relationship started during our school days and he has never betrayed me. I am aware of the challenges before us and I accept wholeheartedly to work with him”.

In his remarks, the Director General of Ohajuruka Campaign Organization, Chief Geoffrey Onyemaobi, charged them and other candidates to go to the field and cultivate the love and friendship of their people.

“Go to the field and cultivate the love of your people let us salvage the state. I charge you to either go to win the elections or you commit suicide”, Onyemaobi urged them.