Governor Obaseki issued a statement on June 6, 2023, announcing a development in response to the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government. This policy change has resulted in a significant increase in food and fuel prices nationwide.
To mitigate the impact of this policy on Edo State workers, the state government released a statement, with the governor’s signature, assuring that if the Federal Government allocates more funds to the state due to the expected savings from fuel subsidy removal, they will consider further increasing the workers’ wages.
“The Edo State Government shares the pains of our people and wants to assure everyone that we are standing with them in these very challenging times.
“We want to reassure our people that we will do all within our powers as a sub-national government to reduce the pains and ameliorate the sufferings our people are currently facing due to the current realities.
“As a proactive government, we have since taken the step to increase the minimum wage paid to workers in Edo State from the approved N30,000 to N40,000, the highest in the country today.”
In response to the hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidy, Governor Obaseki has implemented a reduction in the number of work days for civil servants in Edo State. Instead of the usual five days, civil servants will now work only three days per week. This measure was implemented to alleviate the difficulties faced by the workers due to the increase in fuel and food prices.
The governor the policy has radically increased the cost of transportation, eating deep into the wages of workers in the State. Therefore, the Edo State Government is hereby reducing the number of work days that civil and public servants will have to commute to their workplaces from five days a week to three days a week till further notice. Workers will now work from home two days every week”, he said.
In addition, to lower the cost of energy, the governor promised to work with electricity companies in the state to improve power supply to homes and businesses.
