Seyi Makinde approves ₦80,000 minimum wage for workers

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has approved a new minimum wage of ₦80,000 for state workers.

Dotun Oyelade, state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, in a statement in Ibadan said that a Technical Committee recommended this new salary scale, which Makinde approved.

“This new scale will be implemented as soon as the consequential adjustments process is completed by the committee, which comprises both government and Labour top officials,” Oyelade said.

The announcement comes after recent recognition from the National Bureau of Statistics. Oyelade noted that “only last month, the National Bureau of Statistics, in its latest employment statistics published for 2024, rated the state as the most worker-friendly in the whole of Southern Nigeria due to a significant decline in the state’s unemployment rate, following the high-pitched employment of workers into various sectors of the state.”

He also said the state government has maintained strong support for its workers during Makinde’s term. “The Oyo State Government has been paying workers’ salaries on the 25th of every month since Governor Makinde took office in 2019.

The governor began paying the previous ₦30,000 minimum wage from the start of his tenure over four years ago, including consistent payments of pensions, gratuities, and a 13th-month salary for both workers and pensioners alike.

Since November 2023, Governor Makinde has been paying ₦25,000 to workers and ₦15,000 to pensioners as a welfare wage award. The Makinde administration introduced the wage award to cushion the effects of the Federal Government’s fuel subsidy removal and has remained consistent with these payments for over a year, even to this day.”