By Tony Edike

ENUGU –  MOST civil servants in Enugu State, Wednesday, stayed away from their offices in spite of  the suspension of the warning strike over the N18,000 minimum wage.

Some workers who rushed to their offices after hearing the announcement suspending the strike arrived after 9:00 am while others remained at home pretending not to be aware that planned industrial action was called off.

Markets in Enugu capital city opened at the normal time as the traders’ union ensured that business activities were not disrupted.

Some officials of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, expressed mixed feelings over the calling  off of the strike as they expressed doubt over the willingness of the state government to abide by the agreement reached at the Abuja meeting between the trade union congress and the Forum of Governors.

The State Chairman of NLC, Comrade Chukwuma Ifenze could not be reached yesterday for comments on the latest development but he had told Vanguard on Tuesday that  their dialogue with the state government on the contentious issue of the minimum wage had yielded no dividend as the government had shown no meaningful commitment to pay the wage.

He revealed that the government proposed to pay additional N10,000 to workers under level 01 to 06 and N5,000 to level 07 and above, which was turned down by the union because, as he said,  “the minimum wage was not negotiable.”

“We have prepared our own chart which we believe is ideal for the state to pay but Governor Sullivan Chime has turned it down.  For now there is no compromise.  All we want in Enugu state is full implementation of the minimum age of N18,000 and nothing less,” Ifenze said.