Recent news in Oyo state, Nigeria indicate that government staff have gone on strike yet again. Their reason; non implementation of the minum wage (N6,500). Even though i do agree with workers that N6500 minimum wage is not too much in present day Nigeria we should take into consideration the state revenues.
Oyo state according to facts is one of the few states not owing their staffs or pensioners any salary as of today. It is also a fact that more than 60% of the state revenue goes towards paying for govt. staff. The governor of the state have repeatedly said that there are two options; either retrench a number of the workforce so that the state can implement the minimum wage or pay the staffs they have regularly and implement the minimum wage when the revenue generation/allocation situation improves.The governor has also explained that because a lot of the states' revenue is being expended on salaries, the masses are nor really benefitting. The questions now are;
1.Should the Governor bow to pressures and implement the minimum wage knowing fully well that the state resources cannot cope?
2. Should he retrench some less useful staff so that the minimum wage can be implemented and probably increase the crime wave and level of poverty in the state?
3. Should he keep things as they?
Let your views be known and please no name calling. Thank you everyone
Printer-friendly copy
Email this topic to a friend
