Oyo State Government and the Organised Labour on Wednesday reached an agreement on the N30,000 minimum wage passed into law by the Federal Government in 2019.
The agreement was reached following a meeting between the delegation of the state government and that of organised labour.
Mrs Olubamiwo Adeosun, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), who chaired the State’s Minimum Wage Implementation Committee, made the disclosure on Wednesday evening in Ibadan at the end of the committee’s meeting.
According to the agreement, the new minimum wage for the state workers takes effect from January 2020.
“We have just signed an agreement and the highlight of the agreement signed is that the least paid worker in Oyo State will earn over N30,000 monthly.
“We also agreed with our colleagues all on the table here on the consequential adjustment required as a result of that minimum wage, which has also been agreed and reached.”
“It has been a long process because we have had to look deeply into the books and all the factors required to ensure that even as we sign this agreement today, we get an agreement that is sustainable, agreeable and affordable for the government and the people of Oyo State,” Olubanwo said.
Mr Bayo Titilola-Sodo, Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Oyo State, said that the agreement reached would see the least paid worker in the state earn N30,000.
Titilola-Sodo explained that the matter of consequential adjustment was agreed based on the financial strength of the state.
“We all looked at the books and what our state was generating monthly, the least paid worker in the state will earn N30,000 but what we regard as consequential adjustments, we cannot follow the model from the Federal Government, because we had to cut our coats according to our sizes,” the NLC boss said.
He disclosed that the agreement came after collective bargaining and due consideration for the resources available to the state to the best of the workers’ knowledge.
He noted that the government had also promised to meet with the organised labour every three months to consider the state’s resources.
On whether the issue of consequential adjustment might cause disagreement among the workforce, Titilola-Sodo said: “We also agreed that we would be looking at the books regarding the earnings of the state.There is another meeting coming up in the next three months and it is our belief that government will not fail us.
“So far, Gov. Makinde has not made a promise to us and failed, so this gives us the confidence that we will all sit together with the government in the next three months to look at the situation of things. We will ensure that the agreement is not in vain,” he said
