The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Abia State, Kelechi Anosike, has outlined a welfare-focused agenda that includes a N90,000 minimum wage, review of the tax system and the recall of workers he said were prematurely sacked.
Anosike made the pledges during an appearance on The Morning Show, an Arise TV programme, as part of his campaign ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
The candidate said his proposed administration would be guided by what he described as a “welfarist philosophy”, with workers’ welfare, education, skills development and support for small businesses among its priorities.
He said workers who were disengaged before attaining the statutory retirement age or completing 35 years in service would be considered for recall.
“We developed about eight welfarist political philosophies. One of them now is workers’ welfare. As a welfarist, we play by the rules. If the rules say if you get to 60 years, you retire, or if you get to 35 years of age, you retire. If you don’t reach those milestones, we will not retire you. That’s why I told Abians that those 15,000 workers sacked before their time, we will recall them. Because behind every sacked worker is a family struggling to feed,” he said.
Anosike also promised to raise the state’s minimum wage to N90,000, above the N70,000 national benchmark, and said the measure would be accompanied by reforms to restore what he described as the dignity of the civil service.
“We say we will pay a minimum of N90,000. The national benchmark is N70,000; we will do N90,000 minimum wage. With that said, we’ll restore the dignity of the civil service. A situation where directors are using tricycles to go to work, we’ll stop it. We will get it back to what it used to be. You get official cars for directors and for magistrates,” he said.
He further pledged to clear outstanding allowances, pensions and gratuities within his first 100 days in office if elected.
“Within 100 days in office, about three months, we’ll clear all allowances, all pensions, all gratuities. If the rule says that if you are promoted from level 12 to 13, you get your promotion allowance, once we promote you, that allowance should follow you.
“If the rule says that if you apply for annual leave, you get your leave allowance, the moment you are proceeding on annual leave, the leave allowance should follow you. So, we believe that every worker is entitled to his wages. We believe in the motivation of the entire workforce,” he said.
Anosike also proposed combining academic qualifications with practical skills, saying students would be supported with entrepreneurship grants after acquiring vocational skills.
“We believe in education and skills. Skills that create opportunities. I said there will be a degree and a skill. Never again will anyone graduate without a skill. There should be a skill and an entrepreneurship grant for those students who have learned skills and want to start a business. The government will give them grants to start a business,” he said.
On agriculture and small businesses, the candidate said he would establish a traders’ microfinance bank in Aba and introduce “Operation Feed Abia”, a proposed back-to-farm policy aimed at improving food production.
“There’s a programme we call Operation Feed Abia. Operation Feed Abia. It’s a back-to-farm state policy. If you are eating one meal a day, you will eat three square meals a day,” he said.
Anosike also criticised what he described as excessive taxation in the state and promised to review the tax collection system.
“There is really excessive taxation going on in Abia. I will not tax a truck pusher. The woman selling akara is being taxed about N500 to N1,000 per day. In seven days, it is N7,000. When you multiply that by 30 days and 12 months, she is being paid close to N300,000 for selling akara. We will review the tax burden, collect from the rich to service the poor.”
The candidate has previously outlined similar proposals on workers’ welfare, including the N90,000 minimum wage, clearance of outstanding pensions, gratuities and allowances, as well as a review of the cases of workers he said were prematurely disengaged.
Discussion0