Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has increased minimum wage for state civil servants from N40,000 to N70,000.
The governor said the increment takes effect from May 1.
Obaseki made the announcement while inaugurating the newly built State Labour House in Benin, Edo State.
The Secretariat which he named after his predecessor and former national President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, will house all unions in the state.
“The new minimum wage regime in Edo will take effect from May 1, 2024,” the governor said.
Recall the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, have been pushing for a new minimum wage for workers across states. This is coming on the heels of the hardship occasioned by the economic reforms of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The removal of subsidy on petrol and unification of the forex windows in 2023, immediately led to food inflation and a spike in the prices of other goods and services.
Meanwhile, the national minimum wage has been pegged at N30,000 since April 18, 2019.
However, this sum has been described as “grossly inadequate” and “poverty wage” in the face of prevailing economic hardship.
