Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, have left the Federal Government on there struggling N30,000 to announce a new minimum wage of N40,000 for state civil servants whilst calling on the Federal Government to declare an emergency on food security.
Prior, some pensioners in the state, who retired in 2012, protested the non-payment of their gratuities at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium venue of this year’s Workers Day.
The pensioners who wore black attires and carried placards, appealed to Obaseki to rescue them by paying them their gratuities.
But Obaseki in his address to mark the Workers Day, said to avoid such cases of pensioners being owed, his administration has keyed into the contributory pension scheme, just as he said his administration has paid all pension arrears and would soon commence the next stage which is the various adjustments that had been made in the past.
He said: “We are not a government that runs away from our responsibilities, we will look for a way out to clear all the gratuities. We have cleared all the pension arrears and we will now focus on all the adjustments. I have directed that all the harmonized amounts we have agreed upon, we will begin payment by May this year.
“The purchasing power of an average worker continues to decrease. I want to appeal to the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on food security, if this is not done, we cannot predict what will happen next.
“For optimum performance of our workers, we have resolved to do an upward review of the salary of workers of Edo State, so the Edo State government has now resolved to increase the minimum wage of Edo State civil servants to N40,000 per month.”
Earlier in their speeches, the two workers’ unions, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, applauded the governor on the development of infrastructure in the state.
Acting state Chairman of NLC, Odion Olaye, called on the state government to equip members of the vigilante, who have been providing security and also called for proper funding of the state-owned tertiary institutions by reviewing the ratio 65 per cent:35per cent subvention and appealed to the state House of Assembly to vote in favour of local government autonomy and autonomy to judicial workers in the on-going review of the 1999 constitution besides appealing for the reconstruction of dilapidated public schools where students still learn without chairs and roofs.
Diri approves 100% increase for Bayelsa retirees’ gratuity
Also, in Yenagoa, Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, has approved additional N200 million for the payment of pensioners’ gratuity for the month of May.
Diri, who gave the approval, at this year’s Workers Day celebration while responding to the demands of labour leadership in the state, assured retirees that N400 million would be made available this month to accommodate a sizeable number of pensioners in view of the backlog of arrears.
He said: “I am not unaware of the long queue for pensioners’ gratuity monthly. As you are aware, we are treating the backlog of payment of gratuity.
“Therefore, for the month of February, we have looked at the figure and have come up with an addition. Monthly, we release N200 million for pension and gratuities. This month, we will add an additional N200 million. In other words, N400 million will be made available for the payment of pensions and gratuities.”
Appreciating workers in the state for their support and the existing harmonious industrial relationship with his administration, he noted that his government had prioritised workers welfare to enhance productivity.
Diri also approved a number of the workers requests, which include implementation of the annual step increment as well as the release of funds for conduct of the 2022 promotion exercise for both at the state and local government levels.
He also approved the financial implementation of 2021 promotion exercise for workers and directed the relevant government officials to negotiate with labour to come up with feasible recommendations as soon as possible.
