BY MONDAY UWAGWU
THE Christian holy writ, the Bible, says that a labourer is worthy of his wages.
In simple practical terms, an employee is entitled to pay in equivalence of his or her efforts at productivity.
This is the daily baseline import of the economic situation of labour/ wages relationship.
However, modern Development Economists hold, by conviction, and there is hardly any reason to doubt them, that man, as the human asset or capital( more technically called labour) in the production process is the prime mover and determinant of all of what goes on in production, hence a bit of motivation can encourage him to elasticise his efforts for enhanced yield.
Evidence of the practical result of the application of this view of Economists abounds virtually everywhere, hence, managers now lay due slant on the element of worker motivation in their search for increased productivity.
For the administration of Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, Governor of Delta State, the necessity for deferring to the interest of the state workforce is simple: it is both their right, and also as a motivational tool available to the government.
And so, strong on the heels of his inauguration into office on May 29, 2023, he has taken actions that have left no one in any doubt, even for the briefest capsule of time, as to his intention in this regard.
Now, two years down the line of time, he has taken far- reaching measures to meet the interest of the public officers in the state and even to further motivate them.
Evidences of this disposition find eloquent expression in the sub titles outlined below.
(A) Liquidation of Arrears of Promotion Benefit
In Africa, it is said that the child who regularly services his debts is a responsible offspring, but the one who, in addition, repays debts inherited from his parents , irrespective of age, has come of age and is, by every objective yardstick of assessment, a man.
The fact of this ageless wise crack of African sages was never to be lost on Governor Oborevwori and his administration, hence, on the heels of his inauguration into office, and while his contemporaries were still studying their handover notes, he initiated and activated the payment of the inherited huge arrears of the promotion benefits of its deserving employees.
In all, in excess of N5 billion was committed to this engagement, and the timely action of the government helped amplify the confidence of the affected workers in the system.
(B) Official Vehicles for Judges, Perm Secs
Arising from the import of the opening analogy in this write up, the administration of the Rt.Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori appreciated that not only do the judges and other judicial officials deserve their official entitlements, but also that as the Chief Priests in the public temple of Justice, they needed to be insulated from anything that could jeopardize their independence and or impair their integrity.
To ventilate its conviction in this regard, the Oborevwori administration provided brand new Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for the judges and other vehicles for other judicial officials to create a more friendly ambience for them to serve the public.
It also provided official quarters for them.
As for the Permanent Secretaries, the echelon of the state workforce and high priests of the public service, the necessity was self- evident, and the administration did not bat an eye in providing them official vehicles.
The initiatives of the administration in this regard, beyond meeting the official demands of those personally impacted, has had the additional positive effect of motivating even those outside the circle of direct beneficiaries.
(C) Fuel Subsidy Palliatives for workers
Following the sudden removal of subsidy on petrol by the Federal Government, the Oborevwori administration moved , firm and fast, to alleviate the inflationary effects of the policy by the payment of a monthly across- the – board N10,000 regime per person, over a three- month period.
This means, in effect that each of the roughly 50,000 workers in the public sector in the state got paid N30,000, over the period.
This engagement, in precise mathematical terms, cost the state government in excess of N1,500,000,000( N1.5 billion), and provided significant relief for the public officers.
But that was not all.
The administration also approved and implemented a new work schedule whereby non- critical hands enjoyed two off- duty days per week, as part of efforts to help them conserve funds they would have committed to fares to and from work on the off- duty days. The direct economic implications of this is that, at an average of N1,000( one thousand naira) per day over an approximately four weeks in a month, the state government helped each of its employee conserve N8,000( eight thousand naira) per month on account of the policy which is still running.
Yet, there is another inherent relief in the implementation of the work schedule because it is without prejudice to the annual vacation of public officers.
(D) Implementation of New Minimum Wage
The administration of Oborevwori was one of the first to key into the New National Minimum Wage Regime in two critical ways; actual implementation , and, by exceeding the prescribed benchmark of N70,000( seventy thousand naira) by N7,500.
The wage regime began in October , 2023, at a time when most other state governments were yet to decide their reaction to the policy as announced.
It has faithfully sustained the payment ever since.
(E) Sustaining the inherited workforce.
The government of Oborevwori, quite unlike what some of his contemporaries and even predecessors did, did not down- size or right- size the state workforce as inherited.
This singular gesture, which many have taken for granted, is a landmark in government/ labour relations in the state, and one of the planks on which the mutual confidence between the administration and organized Labour, stands.
(F)Regular Payment of Pensions/ Gratuities
In spite of the huge size of the tally it has to deal with and the legion other development interests competing for its scarce resources of cash, the administration has kept faith with its vow to ensure regular payment of the pension and gratuities of its retirees.
This attitude of compliance has a positive ripple effect on the existing workforce: prospective retirees are doubly assured that they would get theirs entitlements in due season, under the watch of Oborevwori as governor .
(G) Recruitment of 3,000 teachers, others
In order to give filip to its vow to enhance the quality of education, especially at the basic level, the administration approved and recruited approximately 3,000 teaching and support staff into the basic school system.
This singular move, long in wait, has eased a major difficulty of the education sector at that crucial level, and proved salutary for the few teachers at that tier of education for whom teaching had become a drudgery.
( H) N40 billion ALGON Loan Pensions
A major inherited challenge of the Oborevwori administration was the huge backlog of unpaid entitlements of retirees at the local government level.
This had created an atmosphere of ebbing faith in the government , on the part of not just the direct retirees and their families, but also the public, which had been inundated with reports of retirees dying long before they could be paid. In order to deal decisively with the challenge, the Oborevwori administration, as soon as it was inaugurated, helped the state branch of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, facilitate the lead up legal processes, and to obtain a N40 billion facility to liquidate the arrears and save the impacted retirees the agony of further prolonged wait.
Today, following the active intervention of the Oborevwori administration, things have gone full cycle and the affected retirees now have a new lease of life.
(I)New Approval for State Pensioners
The issue of the entitlements of pensioners has been one of the most knotty in the public service of the Nigerian state and its sub-national units. The issue actually has two prongs: the promptness and regularity of the payments, and, the snail speed pace at which adjustment, mainly springing from wage adjustments for serving officer, is made.
It is the crass inefficiency of the system to rapidly and efficiently respond to the legitimate dues of the retirees that has led to despondency of pensioners, and, as some may also date to say, unleashed a wave of anxiety among serving officers.
However, the Oborevwori administration, living up to its labour- friendliness, has proactively acted to protect the interest of its retirees. This followed the approval for a N32,000 monthly increase in the due of its retirees.
A circular to this effect, issued on March 25,2025,; broke news of the great tiding.
The circular, from the Office of the State Head of Service ( HoS), Directorate of Establishments and Pensions, was marked Our Ref.No ED 193/13, and was titled Adjustment in the Pension Rate Arising Fro The Implementation of the National Minimum Wage Amendment Act 2024.
Inter alia, it said,” consequent upon the implementation of the N,77,500 Minimum Wage for workers in the state Public Service, His Excellency, the Governor, has approved an increase of N32,000 across board per month for retirees in the defined benefit scheme in the state Public Service.
“ This approval is in line with the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission Circular Ref No SWC/S/04/S. 542/111/461 of 27 th September , 2024 and payments commenced in October 2024. This is borne out of this administration ‘ s commitment to improving the welfare of workers in the state.’
Need I say more?
In all, the efforts of the government regarding its workforce is not just to meet its obligations to them, desirable as the sustenance of that has been, but also to consistently encourage all to think outside of the proverbial box in finding solutions to development goals and meet the collective desire of all stakeholders in the state project, having regard to their overall importance in helping it deliver on its MORE Agenda.
The pro- workers actions of the government is equally in deference to its deep appreciation of the true value of human capital( which they represent) as the single most critical variable in the development of both man and his society.
