Workers and pensioners in Oyo State on Monday blocked the entrance to the Oyo State Secretariat at Agodi, Ibadan, to protest the non-payment of salary deductions, arrears and full salary.
The protesters are members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and their affiliates.
They demanded that Governor Seyi Makinde should personally address them over issues affecting workers in the state.
The protesters also demanded palliatives for workers, upward review of pension, payment of leave bonuses from 2021, payment of gratuity from 2021, release of promotion letters and a lift on the embargo on promotion for 2021 and 2022.
Reacting to the development, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, said the state government owed three months and not six months' deductions, which he noted was minimal compared to salary deductions owed by other states.
Oyelade said, "The Oyo State Government started the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage three years ago, yet up till now many states are still struggling to pay the old wage.
"For the records, Oyo State pays N7.3bn monthly as salaries, yet collects N5bn as federal allocation. Because of this, all the N2.8bn raked in as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is ploughed back literally to service salaries.
"This is why the state government is confident that the NLC will come to the negotiating table and together with the government chart a realistic path in balancing the welfare of the workers to which the government is obviously committed and the unpleasant economic indices that stare all of us in the face."
He added that despite the challenges of paying wages, over 2,000 civil servants had been promoted while almost 1,000 others had been converted to regular service
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