Makinde gives time to begin N70, 000 minimum wage, extends wage award 3 months
Yinka ADETUNJI
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Oyo state governor Engr Seyi Makinde has assured workers in the state that his administration would soon start implementation of the N70, 000 minimum wage signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on July 29.
While speaking at the World Teachers Day Saturday with theme, “Valuing teachers’ voices towards a new social contract for education,” at the NUT Endwell Model College Sports Complex, Owode Housing Estate, Apata, Ibadan, Governor Makinde said enthusiastically he would pay the new minimum wage just as he announced the extension of the N25, 000 wage award for another 3 months.
The state government has been paying this award to cushion the effects of the hardship in the land.
He however informed negotiation for the minimum wage would commence this week noting that the moment an agreement is reached with the labour union regarding consequential adjustments on the salary the wage award would be discontinued and payment of the new minimum wage would commence in earnest.
“Minimum wage? We will pay minimum wage, seventy thousand minimum wage, there is no doubt about it,” the governor began.
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“Consequential adjustment! It has to be negotiated and that is why NLC (Nigeria Labour Congress) and our team will sit down. Actually, we have extended the wage award because September is when wage award ends. We have extended it for three months. Within that three months, if we conclude negotiations we drop the wage award.”
He assured his government will continue to prioritise the welfare of teachers and all civil servants in the state to enhance their productivity.
He stressed education remains one of the major pillars of his government, while promising to fix more infrastructure in schools to ensure adequate passing of knowledge to students.
“I want to say kudos to the teachers. Everywhere I went during the campaign, you mobilised yourselves and supported us wholeheartedly. So, I appreciate you and I say thank you.
“We are going through challenges as a country. We have issues of minimum wage and fuel price but I want to appeal to you to say that tough times don’t last but tough people do. We will outlast these challenges we are faced with.
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“Any country that wants to develop must educate her people. So, for us in Oyo State, we will continue to specially look after our teachers, because they are dealing with our future.
“You teachers, you have to be put where you belong. So, I thank you for your support and dedication to duty. We still have a long way to go.
“When we came in, with the UBEC grant and matching fund we used to give them, we were spending about N3 billion every year on infrastructure. So, for the past five years, we have done about N15 billion but it is not enough – just like a drop in the ocean.
“The gap we have to fill, when we did the analysis a few years ago, it was around N40 billion but I can tell you now that it will be close to N70 billion.
“If we continue to spend N3 billion yearly for the next 15 years, we still won’t cover the gap on ground. So apart from SUBEB, we will have education intervention funds of a minimum of N10 billion every year towards bridging the infrastructural gap in education.”
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He added that more teachers would be employed to better the lot of the students.
“And of course we will employ more teachers and we will put them in a conducive learning environment that would guarantee better outcomes for our students.”
The governor, while commissioning a block of 10 classrooms built by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) at the NUT Model School, maintained that his administration’s commitment to fixing inner roads remained on course adding that it would work on inner roads within the Owode Housing Estate.
Earlier in his welcome address, the NUT state chairman, Comrade Raji Ismail, expressed gratitude to the governor for his “unprecedented achievements in the education sector and for being mindful of teachers’ welfare through his encouragement of career progression for primary school teachers, regular payment of salaries, promotions, payment of leave bonuses and healthcare insurance, among others.”
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Also in his goodwill message, the chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, Comrade Kayode Martins, assured that the governor will do everything necessary to implement the minimum wage as expected.
Meanwhile it has been observed that the promise on new minimum wage constitutes the greatest news so far this year for the state workers who have been groaning under the burden of hike in fuel prices with attendant soaring commodities’ prices.
