As part of attempts to lessen the impact of the Federal Government’s elimination of oil subsidies, Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has demonstrated a commitment to evaluating the pay of civil officials in the state.
The discovery happened just 48 hours before the intended nationwide strike by labor unions across the nation was set to begin.
As a result, the governor established a committee including members from the state administration and labor groups.
They are the State Accountant General, the Head of Service, the Permanent Secretary for Service Matters, the Permanent Secretary for Establishment, the Director for Service Matters, and the Permanent Secretary for Finance.
The Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), and the Chairman of the Association of Senior Staff are all on the side of organized labor.
The governor offered the Committee eight weeks to develop a workable minimum wage during a meeting with the state’s union leaders on Monday in the Executive Council Chambers.
Makinde said: “For this administration, with all sincerity, we think it’s time to engage and ensure that we are proactive irrespective of what is happening or coming at the national level, we are already prepared for it here and we can run our programme.”
“If you all remembered I said there is nothing stopping Oyo state from paying more than the national minimum wage if we had the resources, if we can expand our economy to that extent and I still believe we can do it.”
“We can pay in Oyo State beyond the national minimum wage and we have them to expand our economy and ensure that the relationship between the leadership of the labor unions and government remain cordial and we focus on the single objective, how to make life better for the people of Oyo State.”
Insisting that there was no lack of confidence between the state’s labor force and the government, Governor Makinde said his administration was ready to raise internal revenue, or IGR, to give the state more clout in terms of satisfying citizens’ needs.
Earlier, Mr. Kayode Martins, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, who represented organized labor, said the review of the new salary is long overdue and bemoaned the difficulties faced by Nigerian workers since the suspension of gasoline subsidies over the last week.
Martins urged the Federal government to proceed cautiously when addressing the withdrawal of gasoline subsidies, nonetheless.
