The Ekiti State government has announced that it will not slash the minimum wage it is currently paying its workforce despite the financial challenges.
Governor Ayo Fayose, who stated this, said to ensure the smooth payment of the salaries, the state government might decentralise the state’s payment system.
Governor Fayose, who disclosed this at the weekend while speaking during a sensitisation tour of Irepodun/Ifelodun and Ekiti South-West local government areas, said the current minimum wage of N18,000 was “grossly inadequate,” adding that “any slash would not augur well for the workers and their dependants.”
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Idowu Adelusi, quoted the governor to have said “the state government would work out ways that the government and the labour unions would agree on the mode of payment.”
He said the governor, who first visited Igede-Ekiti, headquarters of Irepodun/Ifelodun council area, said there was “no point hiding the financial situation of the state government from the workers.”
He said: “I am enjoying your grace for returning me to office and I am not going to take the grace for granted. A governor who hides the true position of things from his people is only deceiving himself.
The power of the people is greater than that of the leader. “I won’t reduce workers’ salaries. The N18,000 minimum wage is even not enough. I will never hold your money one day extra. The shortfall in the bailout will be redressed,” he said.
The governor also added that a unit would be set up in the Governor’s Office to look into complaints about workers’ welfare.
