The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde has declared that workers and pensioners in the state would receive monthly cash awards of N25,000 and N15,000 respectively.
Gov. Makinde stated that the cash award would be paid for the next six months.
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The monies would be paid for the month of October and subsequently for another five months until an agreement is reached on a new minimum wage.
The governor stated this when he addressed the workers at the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, during a solidarity rally.
He told the workers that he had held a meeting with labour leaders and had reached an agreement, but they are still free to negotiate for more.
He said, “So, what we agreed when we met was I said yes, there is the need to cushion the effect of the economic challenges on the workers. The Federal Government did N35,000 and I said what can we do in Oyo State and we have agreed that we would do a cash award too.
“We agreed that pensioners will be given N15,000 cash award monthly, while workers will get N25,000 monthly. If you want to negotiate further, it is okay. But this cash award will add N2.2 billion to the wage bill of Oyo State.
“We must know something, that we have the workers, and we have the generality of the people as well. Oyo State’s population is between eight and nine million, how do we look after them? Everyone is going through this serious hardship.”
The Governor went further to highlight that there are many gaps to be filled in the state cutting across the infrastructure, health and education sectors, hence the need for understanding from the workers.
He noted that the workforce and the people of the state would have to work with the state government to develop the economy of the state for the long term, as according to him, once there is economic prosperity in the state, everyone would be touched.
He said, “We have been talking with your leaders but one or two things I have to point out first is we should ask ourselves how come Lagos that is only 120 kilometres away has an IGR of N60 billion monthly but we are struggling with N3.5 billion or N3.8 billion. It was N1.8 billion when we came in during our first tenure.
“So, we must decide that we want to work to lift the economy of Oyo State. If we provide economic prosperity in Oyo State, it will get to everyone. I am asking you that we have to partner to achieve that vision.”
Makinde added that the state had put in place the Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery (SAfER) initiative, which comprised interventions through food relief, ease of transportation, empowerment of farmers, agripreneurs and small scale business operators as well as health insurance for residents and pensioners to mitigate the effects of the economic hardship on residents of the state.
He explained that the wage award is meant to make things go well for workers, and by extension the teeming population of the state.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur