Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has announced a six-month extension of the payment of N25,000 and N15,000 wage awards to civil servants and pensioners in the state.
Makinde announced this on Friday during the commissioning of the 12.5-kilometre Challenge-Odo Ona Elewe-Apata Road in Ibadan.
The event was attended by Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State and other political officeholders in the state.
Makinde, while speaking, said that the extension became important to allow the Federal Government to conclude negotiations with the labour unions on a minimum wage.
OsunDailyNG recalls that Makinde had earlier introduced the wage award in October 2023, to cushion the effect of the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, by the Federal Government in May last year.
The governor explained that he took action to mitigate the economic hardship being faced by civil servants and pensioners in the state.
Makinde said: “When this economic crisis started, we gave wage award to workers. We started in October and said it would be for six months. I wanted that time to be able to sort out what the minimum wage should be.
“We have not been able to achieve that. So, I am announcing that the wage award will be extended by another six months to give us time to close out the minimum wage discussion and negotiation.”
Speaking further, he said: “Let me use this opportunity to talk about the meeting we had a few days ago. We, the Governors of the PDP, met in Abuja, and one of the key issues we discussed was the economic hardship our people are facing.
“Our focus this time is to help our people overcome the challenges of the time. Some people can continue to play politics and tell lies about how things are; it does not matter.”
