Gov Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti, on Tuesday, asked workers in the state to thank President Bola Tinubu and not him for enabling the state to pay the new minimum wage to its workforce.
Oyebanji stated this when hundreds of civil servants stormed his office in Ado-Ekiti , dancing and singing in appreciation of the payment of the new minimum wage as reflected in their December salary, paid today.
He said that the payment of the new minimum wage was made possible because of President Tinubu’s reforms which ceded more funds to the states.
Oyebanji said, “but for the President’s reforms, which gave more money to states, a number of state governments would not have been able to pay the minimum wage.”
He also hinted on the possibility of a further increase of the minimum wage from N70,000 once the state gets more resources.
“Honestly, I don’t think you should thank me. We have not done anything unusual. You worked hard and got paid by government.
“But I thank you also for showing appreciation. Thank God and thank President Bola Tinubu also.
“I’m saying this because what you are seeing today are the outcomes of the reforms he embarked on,” Oyebanji said.
Earlier, the workers who were led to the Governor’s office by some Permanent Secretaries, thanked the governor for fulfilling his promise to ensure they got a good deal in the minimum wage payment.
The Permanent Secretaries among the workers thanked the governor for including them in the new wage increase, thereby ending several years of exclusion in the minimum wage arrangement.
The development, according to them, had confirmed Gov. Oyebanji’s promise to ensure that every category of workers benefit from the new minimum wage.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that Gov. Oyebanji had in November announced that the new minimum wage would become effective in the state on Dec. 1.
Workers in the state started receiving bank alerts for the December salaries with the new minimum on Tuesday, Dec. 17. (NAN)
