Obaseki increases minimum wage to N40,000 on Workers’ Day

…approves payment of harmonised pension
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has approved N40,000 as new minimum wage for workers in the state, in commemoration of this year’s Workers’ Day.

The governor, who made the announcement while delivering his 2022 Workers’ Day speech, said his government would continue to prioritise the welfare of Edo workers, equipping them with capacity and the environment to deliver efficient and quality service to the people.

Obaseki said: “As we all know, the minimum of N30,000 can barely sustain a family. It will be immoral and mindless of us to continue to pretend we do not know our workers are suffering.

“The government of Edo has now decided to review the minimum wage for Edo workers from N30,000 to N40,000. Undoubtedly, Edo is the first state since the current outbreak of coronavirus to take this initiative.

“Even though we would have loved to pay more, we hope that this little adjustment would enable us to cushion the impact of the inflation that we are faced with. There is no doubt that the financial implications will be heavy and put another burden on the government. But as a government, we are prepared to make the sacrifices so that the workers can live a better life. Your welfare is our number one priority.”

On pensioners, he said he had approved, effective this this month, the agreement reached with the Union of Pensioners that harmonised amount would be paid from this month.

“Government is aware of the difficulties faced by pensioners due to non-payment of pension and gratuities to pensioners by previous governments. This responsibility is huge and it will require a substantial part of our resources to settle them.

“However, we are not a government that is known for running away from challenges; we will look for a way to tackle these challenges,” the governor added.

Earlier in his address, the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Odion Olaye, charged the Federal Government to step up efforts to tackle the high rate of insecurity, unemployment and hunger in the country.