By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – THE Edo State chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Kelly Ogbaloi has said that the new minimum wage of N70,000 announced by Governor Godwin Obaseki during the commissioning of the Labour House was political.

He told Vanguard on phone late Monday that the governor was not sincere with the award alleging that he was using it to lure workers and there is no assurance that the next government would continue the scheme.

According to him “It is an award to the workers, it is okay but again isn’t it political? These workers have suffered tremendously in the past, this realization of increasing salary is coming from where? Is that not just a joker so that workers can be cajoled or eroded into believing that the next government that is from him will be better? I think the award is more deceitful than reality.

They could award that but the intent is my problem because workers have been on a particular wage for a very long time and government has been severely insensitive to considering it and as soon as elections are eminently here, election has become ominous, then government is rushing to increase salaries to N70,000 from whatever rate it was before.

This is a government that is leaving soon and so what are the chances that the next government will sustain it when it is no longer there and then what are the legalities of the new offer, what are the things that required law for salary increase be allowed to work so that successive governments can see it as a basis which they will develop on when the government changes? Whatever it is, he is living and what we are sure of is that the next government is certainly not going to be PDP so for me, I will conclude by saying that it appears like a charade because it is coming when election issues are here, it is a little bit political.” He said