New minimum wage: Ondo governor, Aiyedatiwa, under fire despite approving N73k for workers

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Legit.ng journalist, Ridwan Adeola Yusuf, has over 9 years of experience covering public affairs and governance.

Akure, Ondo state - The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo state has described the newly-approved minimum wage announced by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa as a strategy to curry favour with the electorate ahead of the November 2024 election.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by Ayo Fadaka, the special adviser on media and publicity to the campaign organisation, obtained by Legit.ng on Monday, October 14.

PDP reacts as Ondo governor approves N73k pay for workers

Fadaka said the N73,000 minimum wage reeked of calculated deceit, aimed not at alleviating the suffering of the people, but at securing their votes through shallow tokenism.

The PDP’s statement partly reads:

“A leader who genuinely cares about the welfare of his people would have long since addressed the root causes of Ondo State’s challenges: poverty, unemployment, and the decay of essential services.“His administration has been defined by neglect, indifference, and a stark lack of empathy for the plight of the common man; rather than champion sustainable development and meaningful progress, he has opted to dangle this meagre wage increase as a political carrot, a last-ditch effort to manipulate and hoodwink the electorate in pursuit of his selfish political survival.”

It would be recalled that ahead of the Ondo 2024 governorship election, Governor Aiyedatiwa approved a minimum wage of N73,000 for civil servants in the state.

This exceeds the federal government's agreed-upon minimum wage of N70,000.

The governor highlighted his administration's achievements in improving the welfare of civil servants, emphasising that the state government has paid workers' salaries regularly and provided training opportunities and promotion exercises.