• We planned for N70,000 minimum wage three years ago, Obaseki discloses
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, urged politicians and governors to emulate the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, saying that he has redefined the political system in the state by engaging brains to drive the process.
Jonathan noted that Nigeria needs politicians and governors like Obaseki, who has the vision to groom intellectuals, bringing about development to the people in his effort to enthrone good governance.
He said that while other state governments were finding it difficult to pay minimum wage, Obaseki had gone ahead to pay N70,000 as minimum wage, which distinguished him from his colleagues as a performer.
The former President spoke at the commissioning of the Edo State Civil Service Secretariat Complex, in Benin City, Edo State, renovated and completed by the Obaseki-led administration.
Jonathan, who expressed satisfaction with the developmental projects embarked on by the governor, said that Obaseki is doing well in the state, as his government has positively improved the welfare of the people, particularly the workforce.
Jonathan, who expressed dismay that some governors in the country were busy encouraging youths into criminal activities to use them to win elections, urged them to rather encourage them to become brains that would be an asset to the country.
MEANWHILE, the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has said that the state government made plans for a N70,000 minimum wage three years ago when the telltale signs began to show that the economy was going in the wrong direction.
The governor disclosed this when the Editorial Board of Tell Magazine presented him with the Award for Exceptional Courage in Leadership, in Government House, Benin City, the State capital.
He said that the state made plans for the increase in the minimum wage when he started raising the alarm on the excessive borrowings by the Federal Government to meet its statutory obligations. He said: “We are able to pay the N70,000 minimum wage because we planned in the last three years, considering that we knew a day like this would come.
