All categories of workers on the payroll of the Oyo State Government are now to get N25,000 wage award while pensioners are to get N15,000 for a six-month period effective from October.
Makinde made this announcement in the wake of a rally by the workers under the auspices of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), at the state Secretariat, Ibadan, on Monday.
The workers had proceeded to the State Secretariat after a congress held at the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Secretariat, Ibadan, hoping to have the governor attend to their yearnings for government to provide measures to cushion the effect of the petrol subsidy removal on workers, among other workers-related matters.
Addressing the workers, Makinde said the wage award would amount to an additional N2.2 billion to the wage bill of the State.
Though he noted that the N2.2 billion would greatly eat into the available resources of government, Makinde said he was determined to live up to his promise to the workers.
He said the payment would start with the October salaries and workers would start to get their wag award alerts on or before Friday.
He, however, called for cooperation and understanding of the workers and collective efforts to raise the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as against a ‘we against them’ disposition.
Among others, it was gathered that the labour centres resolved to engage with the governor on an acceptable minimum wage before next March.
Makinde said: “We’re talking with your leaders, there are one or two things i want to point out and it should be concerning to us in Oyo state. How come that Lagos that is 120km away, their IGR is 60 billion naira and we’re struggling between N3.5 and N3.8 billion, it was N1.8 billion when we came in during our first tenure.”
“So, we must decide if we want to work together improve the economy of Oyo state. If we provided economic prosperity in Oyo state, it would reach everybody.
“We all understand that it’s a challenging period for us as a nation and as a state, you have to look at your pocket to see what we can do.
“So for every pensioner in the state, we will give N15,000 monthly for the next six months and I guarantee it is starting from October.
“They are asking we start by September and I told them I don’t know if we had enough money.
“For workers, we’re doing N25,000 to cushion the effects of this economic challenges that we’re all going through.”
Earlier, the Chairman, Oyo NLC, Mr Kayode Martins said the governor’s gesture should put to an end all agitations for wage awards.
Among those present when the governor made his address were the Chairman, Oyo TUC, Mr Bosun Olabiyi, Chairman, Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), Mr Olaonipekun Oluwaseun and several government officials.
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