The Oyo State Government has approved a minimum wage of ₦80,000 for the state workforce.

According to a statement by the State Commissioner for Information and Guidance, Dotun Oyelade, the Technical Committee set up by the State Government recommended and obtained the approval of Governor Seyi Makinde for the implementation of the new pay scale.

This new scale will be implemented as soon as the process of further adjustments is completed by the committee, which comprises senior government and labor officials.

Oyelade recalled that only last month, an agency of the Federal Government, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its latest employment statistics released for 2024, rated Oyo State as the most worker-friendly state in the whole of Southern Nigeria due to a drop in the unemployment rate in Oyo State following a series of sharp hiring of workers in various sectors of the state.

The commissioner also pointed out that Oyo State has been paying the salaries of its workers on the 25th of every month since Governor Makinde assumed office in 2019.

He also said the governor started paying the previous minimum wage of ₦30,000 since inception over four years ago, including consistent payment of pensions, gratuities and 13th month salary to both workers and pensioners .

He recalled that as of November 2023, Governor Makinde is paying ₦25,000 to his employees and ₦15,000 to his pensioners as welfare award.

Oyelade noted that the Seyi Makinde administration started paying the salary to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy induced by the Federal Government and it has also been consistent with the payment for over a year even till date.

He reiterated that Makinde paid the backlog of 2008-2015 gratuities for pensioners with an increase in gratuity payments for pensioners at both the Local Government Staff Pension Board and those paid by the Ministry of Instruction and Training.

He added that the governor has also reinstated pensioners whose names were removed by the immediate past administration and is giving all pensioners an annual Christmas/New Year chicken bonus.