The Ondo State Government has disclosed its readiness to implement the new national minimum wage as approved by President Bola Tinubu for workers in the state.
The State Head of Service disclosed this on Tuesday while fielding questions from journalists in his office in Akure, the state capital.
According to him, Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the state had repeatedly given the assurance at several fora that his government would not do anything less than whatever is approved by the federal government as the national minimum for workers.
Reiterating the commitment of Gov. Aiyedatiwa to the welfare of the state workforce, Mr Philip recalled that apart from Ondo State being the first to pay the Thirty-Five Thousand Naira Wage Award to its workers, the state was also one of the few states that paid beyond the six months earlier stipulated and would continue to pay till the new minimum wage fully kicks off.
He added that the government also extended the gesture to retirees and workers in state-owned tertiary institutions as a way of ameliorating the current economic situation in the country.'
In his words, 'before the bill was Assented to by the President, the Governor had given his words that Ondo State will pay whatever minimum wage as may be agreed upon and assented to by Mr President. And as I speak, we are doing all the preliminaries that as soon as the details of the salary table for the minimum wage is out, we will at it, and I know, true to his promise, will implement it without delay.'
While also speaking on the operations of government offices during the ongoing protest in some parts of the country, he said the people of Ondo State could not protest against themselves as they had seen Aiyedatiwa's government as their government for themselves and by themselves.
He lauded the inclusiveness leadership style of the Governor, who from time to time engaged relevant stakeholders in the state, which he said was the reason the protest was shunned by the youths, workers, traders, students, women and other associations in the state.
'Here, no one is protesting. Not the youths, not the market women, not the students, not the public servants. As you can observe, we are in our various offices carrying our statutory duties and there is tranquillity across the state.' He noted.
'The reason is that we have a governor who is in touch with the feelings and aspirations of the people. A governor who is well-connected with the people. In fact, the government that is been run in Ondo State is the government Owned by the people themselves. So we cannot organise a protest against ourselves.' Philip concluded.
Sina Adeyeye,
Director Information,
Office of the HOS
