The Edo State government has followed in the footsteps of Kwara by scaling down the work days of civil servants in the state from five to three.
Recall that the governor of Kwara State, Mr. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq had on Monday June 5 met with top labour leaders in the state and announced the immediate reduction of workdays for the state civil servants to reduce the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on their earnings.
Similarly, the governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, announced in a statement yesterday the reduction of work days to three for the work force in the civil service for the same reason given by his Kara State counterpart.
He said his administration was on the side of the people “in these very challenging times” and would do its utmost to ameliorate their suffering in the face of the subsidy removal.
“In the wake of fuel subsidy removal by the federal government, fuel prices have increased astronomically leading to a rise in prices of goods and services and overall cost of living.
“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.
“We want to assure you that we will continue to pay this amount, while we hope to increase it even further if more allocation accrues to our state from the federal government in view of the expected savings occasioned by the removal of the fuel subsidy.
“We know the hardship that has been caused by this policy which 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 also said the government was working to deepen EdoBEST@Home initiative to create more virtual classes, thereby reducing the cost of commuting by parents, teachers and pupils to school.
“The Edo SUBEB will provide details on this initiative in the coming days.
“To lower the rising cost of energy on our people, we will continue to work with the electricity companies in the state to improve power supply to homes and businesses.
“Similarly, fibre optic connections are being made available to help our people work remotely, thereby reducing their cost of transportation,” he added.
