Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has increased workers’ minimum wage from the paltry N18,000 to N25,000 monthly. This was his May Day gift to workers in the state on Sunday May 1, 2016.
The governor made the pronouncement while delivering his address to mark the 2016 May Day celebrations at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
He said despite the dwindling oil revenue and the cash crunch affecting the global economy, directors, middle level and junior civil servants even would benefit from the increment.
According to him, the increment takes immediate effect, even as he put aside calls by organized labour regarding “the depletion of public servant population in the state” an alarm raised by the state chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Comrade Emmanuel Ademokun and his trade union counterpart, Comrade Marshall Ohue.
Oshiomhole’s declaration jolted the aggrieved workers who had expressed disappointment with his government over a plethora of issues bothering on their welfare and unpaid salary arrears of local government Council workers in the state, spanning four and 14 months’ salary arrears.
This year’s anniversary with the theme “the working class and quest for social economic revival, was the last one the state governor will celebrate with Edo State workers.
He said, “My movement has toughened me to stand when others are leaping and consistent with my commitment of no lamentation, here, this afternoon beginning from today, the least worker in Edo state, we will increase the salary from N18, 000 to N25, 000.”
He said the state government will be aggressive with tax defaulters and the collection of the internally generated revenue in the state, adding that there would be no different approach in funding the wage bills.
He also disclosed that there will be no going back in the implementation of property taxes, land use charge and work out modalities that would compel the rich to pay more taxes to meet the basic needs of the poor.
”We will fund it the usual way we have been funding it. But, I will be very aggressive with the issues of internally generated revenue. We will sustain that aggression. We will be Mr. hard on tax defaulters.
”We will be harder on big people who do not pay taxes. The responsibility of the government like ours with so much inequalities, the state must squeeze the rich and give to those who are starving. That we will intensify.
”We will aggressively pursue property tax, we will pursue the implementation of the land use charge, consumption tax and all the other taxes we have been pursuing.
”I want to be able to use my very privileged position to show that even with the financial crisis in the country, if we eliminate abuses in our salary administration, remove all the wastages in the system, we punish those who are involved in salary diversion, remove all ghost workers, would heave a sigh of relief to Nigerian workers,” he said.
