Go back to work – Makinde to protesting workers

On behalf of Oyo State, Governor Seyi Makinde has asked that all employees report to work on Monday.

On Saturday, the governor made this proclamation via statewide radio and television broadcast.

During an interview with the media, Makinde said that his administration is working to improve citizens’ standard of living by focusing on three areas: food security, transportation, and the sectors.

Workers and retirees in the state have been demonstrating since Monday, as reported by Infostride News.

Workers have asked for a number of things, including the delivery of promotion letters for 2021 and 2022, the release of gratuities for retirees whose benefits have remained unchanged since 2021, and the payment of leave bonuses and salary deductions.

In addition to exploring more options on conversation, he said his administration would pay the workers the two months’ worth of deductions with their August paycheck.

He urged union officials to resume talks on salary increases and possible pension payment harmonisation.

Makinde also said that the government will expand the number of buses available for civil officials to commute to and from work from nine to twelve, in addition to the payment of the cooperatives deduction to be effected and paid with August wages.

He also said that the government will reimburse any retirees who had already paid their health insurance fee to the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency (OYSHIA).

I am writing to you today to discuss the interim measures we’re taking to help our people weather the economic storm caused by the elimination of gasoline subsidies. You may recall that we announced actions to be taken on June 9, 2023, to mitigate the impact of the fuel subsidy cut.

We have never missed a month of paying salaries and pensions to government employees. All levels of government employees have been reliably paid the minimum pay plus inflation adjustments every month since January 2020.

The current monthly cost of paying government employees’ salaries is N7.2 billion. We have kept making this payment despite a monthly state revenue of less than N10 billion. It’s easy to see why it could be impossible to raise pay or pensions right now’, he said.