From Tony Osauzo, Benin
Yesterday celebration of Workers Day in Edo State at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, was with mixed feeling for Civil servants and their retired counterparts, as Governor Godwin Obaseki announced a new minimum wage of N40,000 for workers.
But pensioners who retired from the State Service in 2012 used the occasion to protested the non-payment of their gratuities, even as Obaseki called on the federal government to declare an emergency on food security.
The protesters who wore all black attires, bore placards of various inscriptions and appealed to the governor to rescue them by paying their gratuities.
One of the pensioners, Irene Aiguobarueghian, disclosed that since their retirement, they have only been getting their monthly pay but yet to get their gratuity.
“We have come here to come and beg the governor to please pay us. Since 2012, he has collected our money and he has not paid us; till now he has not said anything about our gratuity, we are begging him to pay us. We have been receiving monthly pay but he has not said anything about our gratuity”, she said.
In his speech, Obaseki explained that it is to avoid such cases of pensioners being owed that his administration has keyed into the contributory pension scheme, disclosing that his administration has paid all pension arrears and would soon commence the next stage which is the various adjustments that have been made in the past.
“We are not a government that runs away from responsibilities, we will look for a way out to clear all the gratuities. We have cleared all the pension arrears and we will now focus on all the adjustments. I have directed that all the harmonized amounts we have agreed upon, we will begin payment by May this year.
“The purchasing power of an average worker continues to decrease. I want to appeal to the federal government to declare a state of emergency on food security, if this is not done, we cannot predict what will happen next.
“For optimum performance of our workers, we have resolved to do an upward review of the salary of workers of Edo State so the Edo State government has now resolved to increase the minimum wage of Edo State civil servant to N40,000 per month”, the governor added.
The two workers’ unions, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), had earlier  applauded the governor on the development of infrastructure in the state.
Specifically, the Acting State Chairman of NLC, Comrade Odion Olaye, called on the state government to equip members of the vigilante who have been providing security and called for proper funding of the state owned tertiary institutions by reviewing the ratio to 65%:35% subvention.
He also appealed to the state House of Assembly to vote local government autonomy and autonomy to judicial workers in the on-going review of the 1999 constitution, just as he appealed for the reconstruction of dilapidated public schools where students still learn without chairs and roofs.