Obaseki Approves ₦40,000 As New Minimum Wage For Edo Workers

Governor of Edo, Godwin Obaseki, has put a smile on the faces of civil servant in the state as he approved N40,000 as the new minimum wage in the state.

The new development was announced on Sunday, May 1 which marks Nigeria’s Workers’ Day, Naija News reports.

In his worker’s day speech made available to newsmen today, Obaseki reassured civil servants in the state of his government’s commitment to their welfare.

He promised to prioritize Edo workers and equip them with the capacity to deliver quality service.

“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 that we do not know that our workers are suffering,” he said.

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

The governor said his administration is sensitive to the impact of inflation in the country.

He added: “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.”

Naija News understands that Obaseki also approved payment of harmonised pension from May 2022 in tandem with an agreement reached with pensioners.

He stressed that he is carefully paying attention to the senior citizens because they are one of the most vulnerable in society.

“We took interest in payments of outstanding pensions to our pensioners even though these pensions were held by the previous administration,” Obaseki said.

“Given the prevailing economic circumstances, I have now approved, effective this May, the agreement we reached with the Union of Pensioners that the harmonized amount would be paid from May 2022,” he added.