• Demand Explanation For N11bn Car Purchase For Politicians.
Civil servants under the aegis of the Osun Workers Union (OWU) have registered their displeasure over the state government’s delay in approving their new minimum wage, despite the surge in revenue accrued to the state in 21 months, amounting to N383 billion.
The Union, in a Statement signed by their Organising Secretary, Comrade Gabriel Adeoye, said almost all serious states in Nigeria had announced the new pay for their workers.
He said, “Lagos has approved N85,000 as the new minimum wage, effective August. Ebonyi followed suit in October with N75,000, with Grade Level 2 workers receiving the full amount and those from Grade Level 3 and above getting a N40,000 increment. Kogi approved N72,500, waiving taxes for workers for a year. Kaduna also approved N72,000, providing 100 free CNG buses to ease workers’ plight. Rivers, Enugu, Niger, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Ogun, Kebbi states have all approved new minimum wage ranging from N75,000 to N85,000. They have all taken steps to alleviate the economic hardship faced by civil servants.”
Adeoye added that only Osun and few states had been dragging their feet.
“It’s concerning that some labour leaders, meant to advocate for workers, have become government megaphones. A particular labour leader, part of the Labour/Osun State Government negotiation committee on the new minimum wage, was on October 21 reportedly boasted that the committee’s report would be ready within two weeks. That deadline passed on November 4, but no report was submitted. Rather he began to make another case for the government, appealing that workers should exercise more patience.”
OWU posited that while labour unionists in the country were resolute on giving a new lease of life to workers and pensioners, many of their counterparts in Osun state were hobnobbing with the govern
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