No plan to reverse minimum wage, slash salaries, says Abiodun

Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun has said that economic crunch will not force his administration to reverse the signed new minimum wage or slash workers’ salaries.

This is just as the governor promised that local council elections slated for July 24, 2021 would not be skewed in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Abiodun stated this during the breaking of fast (Iftar) with the leaders of the ruling party in the state, on Wednesday, in Abeokuta, the state capital.

The Federal Government had on Tuesday declared that it would slash workers’ salaries and merge agencies to cope with the dwindling economic situation in the country.

But while addressing the APC leaders at the Iftar, Abiodun vowed that his government would not slash salaries of workers, rather, would continue to be creative in its bid to make the state economically-viable and financially-strong.

“We are being very creative with financing. I was watching on television where I saw one of my brother governors say they might have to reverse the minimum wage. I want to assure you that Ogun State will not,” the governor stated.

On the local council elections, the governor told the party leaders that he would promote equal participation, noting that leaders of the ruling party in the state must show that they are products of democracy.

“When it comes to a process like this, what we need to do is to encourage our women to participate. We will vote for them, but we are not going to share it and say because you are a woman, you take this. No, that will be undemocratic. We are not going to do that; there will be fairness,” he stated.

Besides, the governor also disclosed that his administration would soon re-launch the OPMESA, which according to him, was recently resuscitated after years of neglect by the immediate past administration.

He said: “We are taking the issue of security very seriously. We are doing everything we can, being the industrial hub of this country. Any act of insecurity is sabotage against our plan to make the state very viable economically. We are going to fight it with everything and we are going to protect it with everything we have.

“We have resuscitated OPMESA. We are going to launch it maybe in the next two weeks.”Earlier in his remarks, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC in Ogun, Yemi Sanusi, commended the state governor for embarking on massive road rehabilitation and reconstruction across the state, as well as accommodating more members into the party, particularly bigwigs from other political parties.

Also, in their respective remarks, former deputy governor, Segun Adesegun, Senator Adegbenga Kaka and Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka, who commended the governor for his effort at making the state more attractive for investors, declared that they would continue to support his administration.