New Minimum Wage: Ondo, Nasarawa Assure Workers Of Payment

By Ayodele Oni

Ondo and Nasarawa gave joined other states which are set to commence payment of the new minimum wage of N70,000.

The minimum wage bill was signed into law few days ago after passage by the National Assembly.

Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa said he is more than ready to pay N70,000 minimum wage to civil servants in the state.

The Senior Special Assistant to governor Sule on public affairs, Peter Ahemba disclosed this at a media chat with the correspondent’s chapel.

Ahemba stated that the governor had already approved the payment of the new minimum wage which is set to commence any moment soon.

“Governor Abdullahi Sule is more than ready to pay the ₦70,000 minimum wage passed into law and accented to by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. His excellency Engineer Sule is committed to Workers welfare and the entire development of the state.

“The government of Abdullahi Sule is aware of the current hardship everyone is going through and he is taking steps to address the current hardship through profitable youths engagement and entrepreneurship training as parts of his agenda of industrialisation.

On it’s part, Ondo state government declared its readiness to implement the N70,000 minimum wage approved by President Bola Tinubu for workers in the state.

The State Head of Service(HoS), Mr Bayo Philip, disclosed this on Tuesday while fielding questions from journalists  in Akure.

According to him, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has repeatedly given the assurance at several fora that his government will not do anything less than whatever is approved by the federal government as the national minimum wage for workers.

Reiterating the commitment of Aiyedatiwa to the welfare of the state workforce, Philip recalled that apart from Ondo State being the first to pay the N35,000 wage award to its workers, the state was also one of the few states that paid beyond the six months earlier stipulated and would continue to pay till the new minimum wage fully kicks off.

He added that the government also extended the gesture to retirees and workers in state-owned tertiary institutions as a way of ameliorating the current economic situation in the country.

“Before the bill was assented to by the President, the Governor had given his words that Ondo State will pay whatever minimum wage as may be agreed upon and assented to by Mr President.

“And as I speak, we are doing all the preliminaries that as soon as the details of the salary table for the minimum wage is out, we will look at it, and I know, true to his promise, will implement it without delay.”