[size=14pt]Oyo workers ’ll enjoy N18,000 minimum wage from May 1 - Alao-Akala •Says governance remains potent until last admissible date •It is morally wrong - Governor-elect[/size]

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Written by Dapo Falade and Adebayo Waheed
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
OYO State governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, has insisted that he will not renege on his promise to pay the N18,000 minimum wage to public workers in the state, saying that its implementation is a covenant between him and the workers.

The governor had, during an inter-denominational service organised by the state Head of Service, Alhaja Iyabo Adeleke, at the Governor’s Office last March, promised to effect the payment of the new wage, saying that it was a legal entitlement of public workers in the state.

The Governor-elect of the state, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, had, on Sunday, warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government in the state against approving a new minimum wage for workers in the state at the twilight of the administration.

He had also said that it would be morally wrong for the governor to embark on such venture after he had been voted out of office, adding that it would be proper for him (Alao-Akala) to allow the in-coming administration to take such a decision.

However, Governor Alao-Akala, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Public Communications, Prince Dotun Oyelade, and made available to Nigerian Tribune on Monday, turned down Ajimobi’s request to stop the implementation of the new salary, declaring that public workers in the state would start enjoying the minimum wage from May 1, 2011.

Expressing his regrets for his inability to accede to the request made by Ajimobi, the governor said that the promise to pay the minimum wage, which he said he voluntarily made on Tuesday, March 29, 2011, had become a covenant between him and the workers.

Taking an exception to Ajimobi’s description of his action as suspicious and controversial, Alao-Akala said that he gave the promise then out of the conviction that he would be the one to implement it, asking: “What kind of leader will I be if I have to acquiesce to reneging on a promise I made to my people? I wish to leave behind a legacy of policy consistency”, he said.

He also disagreed with Senator Ajimobi that it was morally wrong for him (Alao-Akala) to initiate a project that he would not implement, saying that, “while it is morally and legally correct for him to effect minimum wage, governance is a continuum and its entity remains potent until the last admissible date.

“In any case, former Governor Lam Adesina sealed a whopping N1.8 billion contract for an international market and water projects in the dying days of his administration, while Senator Rashidi Ladoja increased workers’ salaries and allowances a few days before his departure”, he said.

Expressing his determination to go ahead with the payment of the minimum wage, Governor Alao-Akala, in the statement, declared: “The workers in Oyo State will enjoy minimum wage of N18,000 from May 1, 2011 and it is their right to reject the offer.”

Furthermore, Senator Ajimobi, has said that the payment of the new minimum wage could not be implemented with just a statement, adding that, though the law had been passed but it had not been ratified.

The governor-elect who spoke through his Director for Media and Publicity, Mr Yanju Adegbite, in Ibadan, said that the issue was more sensitive than just issuing a statement.

While noting that the governor was yet to ratify the new law, he said it could not be paid without ratification by the governor.

“As of this morning, the law is yet to be ratified as the governor was not around,” he said.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/21700-oyo-workers-ll-enjoy-n18000-minimum-wage-from-may-1-alao-akala-says-governance-remains-potent-until-last-admissible-date-it-is-morally-wrong-governor-elect

May outgoing governors increase minimum wages of state employees in order to spite the incoming ones o. Akala na God go bless you for raising the bar for Ajimobi o.

bad guy. now i support his probe.

so you are saying it is bad to increase workers minimum wage?

the guy try

Good move.

Ajimobi should reverse this policy and any other last-minute shenanigans by Alao-Akala as soon as he gets into office.

A good chess move, Akala the smart ass,

ekt_bear:

Ajimobi should reverse this policy and any other last-minute shenanigans by Alao-Akala as soon as he gets into office.

What will his local support look like when he is denying workers better pay?. Akala is setting him up big time.

aloy-emeka:

What will his local support look like when he is denying workers better pay?. Akala is setting him up big time.

They will have forgotten by years 3 and 4. Better to reverse it quickly rather than having it drain your budget for 4 years

ekt_bear:

They will have forgotten by years 3 and 4. Better to reverse it quickly rather than having it drain your budget for 4 years

Will you preach that if your parents or siblings are beneficiaries?

aloy-emeka:

Will you preach that if your parents or siblings are beneficiaries?

Are you that slow to realize that he's only doing this crap to place undue financial burden on the state and to make sure his successor starts off on a shaky note? He's been in office all this while, why didnt he approve of this "measure of goodwill" before he got kicked outta office?

Dumb move! Repeal and reverse that crap!

@aloy-emeka:

Well, there are two sides here:
1) What is right and best for Oyo State
2) What would be best for me, if my family members were directly affected by this pay increase

I've already told you what I think the answer to (1) is. If (1) and (2) conflict, I'll probably choose (2) over (1), just because it is personal.

But the Governor has to be above that, in my opinion. . . he has to do what is best for Oyo.

So Akala is making chess moves with Oyo eh? Goes to show the kind of person he is, one who give into spite at the expense of entire state welfare.

How much is 18000 minimum wage that scares our govt so much? Cant a country like ours afford to pay more? Why should the govt view this as a burden? 12yrs into democracy yet there is no constant electricity, bad roads, pensioners are being owed and labourers cant even get their new minimum wage. So i ask where has the nations money(billions and trillions) been going to all these years? Pls i need an answer.

[size=14pt]Oyo: Ajimobi accuses Akala of indifference to doctors’ strike[/size]

On February 4, 2011 · In News
BY OLA AJAYI
IBADAN — FOLLOWING the strike embarked upon by doctors in Oyo State, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, governorship candidate, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has condemned alleged indifference of the State Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala to the complaints of the health workers.

He said leaders who put up “I don’t care attitude to health care delivery system of his people should not have ventured into governance at all.

He called on eligible voters in the state to pay Akala back in his own coin by voting him out in the April election.
All hospitals in the state have been shut for the past two weeks over what the doctors considers as “poor working conditions including poor remuneration, heavy tax and heavy work load arising from insufficient personnel”.

According to Ajimobi: “Every good leader works with the understanding that a healthy person is a wealthy person. The governor’s attitude is an indirect way of sending people to early grave for no just cause”.

According to him, “Government has collapsed in Oyo State. This is the height of lack of interest and care for the masses.

That is how the governor destroyed the education sector. He refused to pay teachers in both primary and secondary schools, sacked lecturers at the polytechnic and college of education for demanding a reduction of the heavy tax. LAUTECH students have been protesting the hike of their fees.

Now doctors and other medical workers have closed down the hospitals in a state where most citizens can not afford the bils of private hospitals. There is nowhere in the world, even in Nigeria where all government hospitals have been closed down up to local communities. As far as we are concerned, government has broken down; all sectors are affected. That is why Akala must resign now”.

Meanwhile, Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, has appealed to well meaning Nigerians to prevail on the striking doctors to go back to work.

The appeal was contained in the electronic mail sent by the Special Adviser on Public Communication to the Governor, Prince Dotun Oyelade.

He said the Governor had led a delegation to persuade the association two days ago to accept 70 percent of what Federal approved for its staff even when many states found it difficult to pay.

According to the governor, “Federal takes 52 percent of total revenue accruing to the country while the 36 States and 774 Councils share the rest so Federal can afford to pay that which is not binding on any State. Even Lagos State with its huge revenue base can only pay 75 percent”.

He explained further that his administration had stretched its purse to the limit by conceding to pay 70 percent.
“ We in turn appeal to the patriotic sense of our doctors to see reason and we also appeal to well_meaning people to persuade them to call off strike”, he stated.

[size=15pt]FOR SEVERAL MONTHS, AKALA DRAGGED WITH TEACHERS, DOCTORS ETC FOR SMALL INCREAMENT. NOW THAT HE HAS LOST OUT COMPLETELY, HE NOW TURNED INTO A SAINT AND HE IS TRYING TO ROPE HIS SUCCESSOR BY PITCHING HIM AGAINST THE WORKERS AND THE OBAS[/size]

there is nothing wrong with increasing the minimum wage, but the big question is, how come it took this fat neck bleaching machine exactly 4 years to implement and execute this promise?
i think it is only fair for the junky to move his mess out of the state house and allow the newly elected governor to exercise his concepts or ideas.
after all, the bleaching machine had his time, but was just too busy spending state money on searching for the most effective bleaching cream. i beg carry go and let us witness a great work of a true leader.