Oyo State has been ranked as third in the league of states paying the highest minimum wage in Nigeria.
While Lagos and River states with ample natural resources approved ₦85,000 as minimum wage, Oyo State will pay ₦80,000.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government approved ₦70,000 as new minimum wage.
In a statement by the Oyo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, four other States – Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Enugu and Niger matched Oyo State in the payment of ₦80,000 minimum wage but do not have the workforce of Oyo State.
Prince Oyelade noted that this showcased the high premium Governor Seyi Makinde places on the welfare of the state workers.
Already, he said, without the ₦80,000 minimum wage, the state pays over ₦77billion yearly on workers’ salaries, subventions and wage awards.
The Commissioner gave the breakdown of the Oyo State October Salaries and wages as an example:
* Political Office Holders: ₦124,369,753.88
* Wage Award: ₦1,311,780,000.00
* Subventions: ₦1,782,204,518.72
* Civil Servants Salaries: ₦3,198,742,396.75
* Total: ₦6,417,096,669.35
The Commissioner reiterated that workers in Oyo State have been enjoying a series of mouthwatering welfare packages under the Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration since 2019 when he took over the helms of affairs in the State.
He said the Seyi Makinde administration has reduced the unemployment rate in the State with over 23,000 new workers, including teachers, non-teaching staff, health workers and mainstream civil servants.
Oyelade backed the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), assertion that Oyo state has the most worker-friendly State in the whole of Southern Nigeria owing to the record volume of new recruitments into the civil service system.
With the spate of recruitment, Oyo State now ranks as one of the top three State employers of labour after the Federal Government.
Workers and pensioners have continued to enjoy timely payment of salaries on or before 25th of every month for 66 months without interruption.
Similarly, workers have enjoyed their 13th month salary since 2019 and December 2024 will not be an exemption.
