The government of Oyo State has called on the Nigeria Labour Congress to discuss the issue of salary deductions exhaustively before embarking on any form of protest.
The Commissioner of Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, who gave the urge in a statement on Monday, July 31, said that only three months and not six months deductions are owed workers.
The statement added that every state in the federation owes workers salary deductions and the three months owed by the pacesetter state is the least.
According to the Commissioner, the NLC had shown over the years that they are in support of the current administration because of good governance, but asked them to reflect on the disposition of government to workers’ welfare.
While the July salaries had been paid in Oyo State, not less than 20 states including Ondo, Plateau, Benue and Bayelsa were owing several months of salaries in arrears, while several more, including neighbouring states, were owing months of deduction arrears.
It was said that the Oyo State Government started the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage three years ago, while many states were still struggling to pay the old wage till now.
“While it is the right and entitlement of our workers to access their wages, especially at this tough time, the government implores them to reflect on the sincerity of purpose of this administration,” the statement read.
It added that in spite of the challenges of paying wages, over 2,000 civil servants had been promoted, while almost 1,000 others had been converted to regular service.
It stated further: “For the records, Oyo State pays N7.3 billion monthly as salaries, yet collects N5bn as Federal Allocation.
“Because of this, all the N2.8 billion raked in as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) are ploughed back literally to service salaries.”
Prince Oyelade said that tovernment deserves a pat on the back, if, in spite of this tight rope, the government still embarks on such magnitude of infrastructural projects, that even the NLC had applauded numerously.
Eminent pundits, including the current Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki had predicted that no state would be able to pay salaries by the end of June this year because of the worsening shape of the economy, but Oyo State, due to the deft husbanding of the state resources by Gov Seyi Makinde, has defied the doomsday prediction, Information Commissioner note.
He gave it as a reason the government was confident that the NLC would come to the negotiating table with the government and chart a realistic path in balancing the welfare of the workers, pointing out that the government is obviously committed to this amidst the unpleasant economic indices that had been staring all in the face.
Meanwhile, the Oyo State Government has urged workers to resume at their duty posts and continue the good work they are known for.
