Jubilation in Edo, as Obaseki pays new minimum wage

TRACKING____Civil servants in Edo State have expressed pleasure with the payment of the new national minimum wage.

The workers who received their January salary on Saturday, said they were impressed with the governor’s unflinching commitment to workers’ welfare.

Governor Godwin Obaseki had in his New Year message, assured civil servants that the state government will commence payment of the new minimum wage in January.

A statement from the office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, said the “Governor Godwin Obaseki-led government has kept to its promise to pay the new minimum wage.”

He said the increment was reflected in the amount credited to workers’ accounts on Friday, January 24, 2020, after due approval from the governor.

Osagie noted that the state is comfortably paying the wage as a result of the expert management of the state’s finances by the governor and his team.

A staff with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Anderson Asenoguan, said he got a credit alert in the afternoon on Friday and observed the increment in his salary, which confirmed the payment of the new minimum wage to workers in the state.

According to him, “We, indeed, have a man of integrity as a governor in Edo State. The governor promised he was going to pay the new minimum wage in January and today, he is one of the few governors in Nigeria to have started payment.

“It has been jubilation galore in my office since we got the credit alert and saw the increment. This is truly the dawn of a new era for workers in Edo State.”

Speaking in the same vein, a driver attached to the Government House, Benin City, Mr. Aiyowiere Obey, said the new wage is most commendable, noting that the governor has always been a man of his words.

“I appreciate the governor for being prompt in the payment of the new minimum wage. Workers in Edo State are full of praises for him as this is the first time, we are benefiting from such an increment without having a clash with government.”