The Governor ‘Seyi Makinde-led administration in Oyo State, on Wednesday, approved a minimum wage of ₦80,000 for public workers in the state.
The approval was contained in a statement by the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade.
Oyelade stated that the Technical Committee set up by the state government recommended and got approval from Governor Seyi Makinde for the implementation of the new salary scale.
“This new scale will be implemented as soon as the consequential adjustments process is completed by the committee which comprises of government and Labour top officials,” Oyelade stated.
He recalled that, only last month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its latest employment statistics published for 2024, rated Oyo as the most worker-friendly State in the South-West.
“The rating was owing to a significant decline in unemployment rate Oyo State following a series of high-pitched employment of workers into various sectors of the state,” he added.
Oyelade also emphasised that Oyo State government pays its workers’ salaries on the 25th of every month since Governor Makinde came into office in 2019.
He said Governor Makinde started paying the previous ₦30,000 minimum wage from inception over four years ago.
Oyelade added that the governor has also been consistent with the payment of pensions, gratuities and 13th month salary for both workers and pensioners alike.
He recalled that since November 2023, Governor Makinde has been paying ₦25,000 to its workers and ₦15,000 to its pensioners as a welfare wage award.
The Information Commissioner noted that the Makinde administration started paying the wage award to cushion the effect of the Federal Government-induced fuel subsidy removal and has also been consistent with the payment for over a year, even till date.
Oyelade restated that Makinde has paid the backlog of gratuities from 2008 to 2015 to pensioners, with increase in gratuity payment for pensioners at both the Local Government Staff Pensions Board and those paid by the Ministry of Establishment and Training.
He added that the governor has also put back into the payroll pensioners whose names were removed by the immediate past administration and has been giving all pensioners annual Christmas/New Year Chicken Bonus.
