Amudipe Opeyemi Marcus
With the recent pronouncement which sees to an increase in the nation’s minimum wage from the long old N18,000 to N30,000. Several reactions has been trailing this development. While many sees this as a welcome development for the benefit of Nigerian workers, others sees this another tool to cause undue inflation. If these were just the reaction, then there is no reaction at all, nothing worth losing a wink of sleep over.
The bane of the reaction, which has form a cloud of dust, raising a wind of uncertainty over the new minimum wage is the inability, or should we say the unreadiness of some state governor to pay the new minimum wage
Many state governments are already crying foul over the federal government action. They claim they cannot afford to pay the new minimum wage. This should not come as a surprise to us, knowing fully well that some are owing their workers more than one-month salary (at the old minimum wage rate. How do we think such states will be able to pay their workers the new minimum wage, which is more than 100percent increase on the old rate?
While the elites of the Nigerian society and media giants of our socio-economic terrain are left to discuss the implication of these development in our states as it applies to them. Against the run of play, it is a different ball game with the people of Ondo State. The choice of the good people of Ondo State to give their mandate to Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu has yielded good fortunes for all and sundry in the state.
For a state which is predominately a civil servant state upon his assumption into the Alagbaka Government House, Akure Ondo State, he has over the last two years steered the wheel from the status quo, ’civil servant state’ to a fast growing industrialized state. Adding to this, his giant infrastructural strides are second to none in the Nation. His willingness and swift intervention to paying all outstanding workers’ salaries in the state, even those owed by his predecessor has ranked him high in the heart of all workers in the state. They were not surprised when Arakunrin Akeredolu was among the first set of Governors in the state to express his readiness to pay the new minimum wage in the country. While these has left his counterpart reeling with surprise at how a governor with many progressive projects going on in all the nooks and crannies of his state could afford this, it’s no rocket science nor a celestial work of governance. It is an output of a man who is ready to work; a man who understands the rudiments of what of what it takes to govern. Little wonder to seeing Ondo state topping the chart leading other 35 states in the federation in the internally generated revenue. Ondo state grew its IGR by more than double to N24.79billion in 2018 from N10.93billion achieved a year earlier, causing the state to jump 11 steps to become ninth-highest revenue generating state of the federation after Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, Delta, Kano, Kaduna and Edo state which sustained their position.
It is no sheer news or political smokescreen to assert that the fortunes of the people of Ondo state has indeed changed for the better, with the dawn of each day, citizens of the sunshine state wakes up to the sweet smelling savour of good governance has been exemplified by Arakunrin Akeredolu.