Removal Of Subsidy: Obaseki Increases Minimum Wage From N30,000 To N40,000

By Akinwale Kasali

To cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on Civil Servants, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has increased the minimum wage from N30,000 to N40,000.

A statement by the  Government,  stated that the increment was to cushion the effect of the rising cost of living on the Civil Servants in the State.

Governor Obaseki has also followed the footsteps of his counterpart in Kwara State, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq by permitting the State workers to work from home twice a week and show up in the office three days per week.

The measures were taken as the State ’s immediate response to the stoppage of petrol subsidy payment by the Federal Government, which pushed up food costs and petrol price.

*In the statement personally signed by the Governor, the government said: “If more allocation accrues to our State from the Federal Government in view of the expected savings occasioned by the removal of the fuel subsidy, the work days will be reviewed.

“The Edo State Government shares the pains of our people and wants to assure everyone that we are standing with them in these very challenging times.

“We want to reassure our people that we will do all within our powers as a sub-national government to reduce the pains and ameliorate the sufferings our people are currently facing due to the current realities.

“As a proactive government, we have since taken the step to increase the minimum wage paid to workers in Edo State from the approved N30, 000 to N40, 000, the highest in the country today.”

On the reduction of the number of work days for civil servants, Obaseki said his government was aware of the hardship the removal of petrol subsidy has caused.

The Governor added that the policy has radically increased the cost of transportation, eating deep into the wages of workers in the state.

“Therefore, the Edo State Government is hereby reducing the number of work days that civil and public servants will have to commute to their workplaces from five days a week to three days a week till further notice. Workers will now work from home two days every week”, the statement reads.