By Obamwonyi Violet Osatohanmwen and Edeniyere Abraham Osose
The Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration on May 1, 2022, approved a 33.33% increase in salaries of all public and civil servants in Edo State.
This had a corresponding effect on the minimum wage which was increased from thirty thousand Naira (N30,000) to forty thousand Naira (40,000), surpassing the Federal Government approved minimum wage.
Many at first considered this gesture by the Governor a conventional political statement and a mere promise geared towards scoring political points, probably because past administrations and the operational modalities of the Nigerian political system have made many to lose faith in government, especially as it concerns promise fulfillment.
In many cases in previous administrations, civil servants were owed months of arrears with endless promises by the government, which were never kept. There were often circumstances where civil servants took to the streets with different placards chanting songs of solidarity.
They were always of the opinion that their efforts were not rewarded accordingly, amidst the ostentatious and extravagant lifestyles of many political office holders. They faulted their take-home pay and found it grossly unfair that they were subjected to such cruel treatments especially in a bleeding economy as Nigeria’s, leading to distempers and uneasiness among civil servants.
Workers in the State were almost not identified as employees of the State Government in public places, not necessarily because they did not wear tags around their necks by way of introduction but because of the way and manner they struggled to make ends meet with the peanuts they received as salaries, in combination with the endless fasting and prayers they had to engage in, due to their numerous months of unpaid salaries. All these ended with Obaseki taking over the reins of power in the State.
Alluding to this, a civil servant, Mr. Godfrey Osejele said: “ Since his assumption of office, Governor Obaseki has ensured that workers in the State receive their salaries on or before the 26th of every month. This, the Governor has sustained for over five years of his administration, and the trend has continued.
Osejele expressed his unspeakable joy and appreciation to the State Government for instituting the system of prompt salary payment which has been on for almost six years now.
According to him, “For the past six years, I have not had any reason to doubt or have any heartbreak when the month is coming to an end. I have never been owed by this present Government”.
As if the regularity of the salary is not enough, public servants in Edo State were in awe when their May salaries reflected the 33.3 percent increase, barely a few weeks after the announcement was made on May 1, in commemoration of the 2022 Workers’ Day celebration.
This is not the first time Governor Obaseki would be displaying excessive concern towards the welfare of workers in the State. When the Federal Government approved the current thirty thousand Naira (N30,000) minimum wage, Edo State was one of the earliest states in the federation to commence the implementation of the salary structure by increasing minimum wage in the State from twenty five thousand Naira (25,000) to thirty thousand Naira (N30,000).
Even now, while the Federal Government is yet to contemplate any increase in the wages of workers, Governor Obaseki increased salaries of workers in the State by 33.3 percent across board, causing a rise in minimum wage with an additional ten thousand Naira (N10,000), and a corresponding increase on all basic salaries of public servants in the State, in relation to the pay of each public servant.
With inflation rate in Nigeria hitting over 17 per cent, millions of workers and the average Nigerian can no longer live decent and comfortable lives on their income.
This has grossly affected workers’ disposition towards work and invariably, their productivity and efficiency. Edo is about the first State in Nigeria taking a proactive step towards workers’ welfare in a post-pandemic era.
With the standard of living of the average Nigerian steadily declining and prices of goods and services skyrocketing daily with no end in sight, the gesture by Governor Obaseki has helped cushion the ripple effects of the current double-digit inflation for public servants in the state vis-à-vis the populace.
The gesture has also become a source of motivation for public servants in the State for effectiveness and efficiency in productivity and service delivery.
Another civil servant in the State, Mr. Kenneth Omozokpia, said: “Edo workers are now very proud to be civil servants because of the value the Governor places on us. We see our work now as an opportunity to contribute to the growth of the State. In our teams, we talk about how to increase our productivity at work now, and some of us are even doing online programmes to gain new knowledge that will help us perform better on our jobs. Remember the popular saying, ‘To whom much is given, much is expected.'”
Omozokpia added: “Our dignity has been restored because we have money to pay our bills, we do not have to go borrowing as we used to do in the past. We get our salaries before the end of the month and we can plan and execute our plans without any hitches.”
Steers & Porter 1991 definition of motivation as the set of forces that cause people to behave in certain ways, agrees with the traditional approach on perspectives of motivation propounded by Frederick Winslow Taylor, popularly referred to as the father of scientific management, which proposed the use of an incentive pay system to motivate workers.
Evidently, the increase in salaries of public servants in the State has become a useful incentive leading to improvement in the attitude of public servants in the State who have been given a renewed hope by the Obaseki administration to find dignity in their labour.
