In a powerful and deeply emotional appeal that laid bare the growing desperation of Abia State’s civil servants and public workers, organised labour in Abia State used the occasion of the 2026 Workers’ Day to issue an urgent and forceful call on Governor Alex Otti to immediately review workers’ welfare and implement a living wage that genuinely reflects the harsh and worsening economic realities confronting the state’s workforce — revealing in the process the shocking fact that Abia State still pays workers as little as N29,000 despite the Federal Government’s directive mandating a N70,000 national minimum wage.
The revelation has drawn immediate outrage and disbelief across Abia State and beyond — particularly when set against the backdrop of neighbouring Imo State, where Governor Hope Uzodimma pays workers a living wage of N104,000 and has gone further to abolish the casualisation of workers entirely. The contrast between Imo and Abia’s approach to workers’ welfare could hardly be more stark or more damning.
Labour leaders, speaking with visible frustration and barely contained anger during Workers’ Day activities across the state, described the non-implementation of the N70,000 national minimum wage in Abia as a deliberate and unconscionable act of neglect that is punishing not just junior workers but senior civil and public servants whose years of dedicated service to the state deserve far better recognition and reward than a monthly salary that cannot sustain basic human needs.
One union leader captured the collective despair of Abia’s workforce in words that resonated painfully across the gathering: “We are not asking for luxury, we are asking for survival. The cost of living has skyrocketed. Transport, food, rent — everything has gone up. Our salaries can no longer sustain basic needs.”
The workers’ appeal was equally pointed in its comparison of Governor Otti’s record with those of his South-East counterparts — noting that governors across the region have taken concrete and commendable steps to prioritise workers’ welfare through wage adjustments, improved incentive structures, and deliberate welfare policies, while Abia’s workers say they are yet to feel any comparable impact under the present administration despite a succession of promises from government officials that have repeatedly failed to translate into tangible action.
Beyond the minimum wage crisis, labour representatives raised equally urgent concerns about the non-payment or delayed payment of salaries, pension arrears, and the worsening plight of Abia retirees — a category of former public servants who labour leaders described as having been hit hardest by the combination of inadequate pensions, rising inflation, and the declining purchasing power of the naira.
The workers called for deliberate and comprehensive government policies to restore morale within the Abia civil service — warning that a demoralised, underpaid, and financially distressed workforce cannot deliver the quality of public service that the people of Abia State deserve and that Governor Otti’s own development agenda requires.
In what amounted to a formal withdrawal of patience from the state’s labour movement, union leaders made clear that after what they described as “endless promises without results” from the Abia State Government, workers are no longer willing to accept assurances, timelines, or committee reports as substitutes for immediate, tangible, and measurable action on the wage crisis.
The Abia State Government is yet to issue a formal response to the Workers’ Day demands at the time of filing this report.
CDA News Nigeria stands with every hardworking Nigerian worker and calls on all governments — federal, state, and local — to honour their obligations to the workforce that sustains this nation.
Happy Workers’ Day to all Abia workers. Your labour is seen. Your struggle is heard. Justice must be served.
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