On May 1, 2022, the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration approved a 33.33 percent raise in salaries for all public and civil servants in Edo State.
This had a corresponding effect on the minimum wage, which was raised from N30,000 to N40,000, exceeding the Federal Government-approved minimum wage.
Many initially saw the Governor’s gesture as a conventional political statement and a mere promise aimed at scoring political points, most likely because previous administrations and the operational modalities of the Nigerian political system had caused many to lose faith in government, particularly when it came to promise fulfillment.
In many cases, civil servants were owed months of arrears with endless promises from the government that were never kept.
There were numerous occasions when civil servants took to the streets with various placards, chanting songs of solidarity.
They were always of the opinion that their efforts were not appropriately rewarded, despite the ostentatious and extravagant lifestyles of many politicians. They were dissatisfied with their take-home pay and felt it was grossly unfair that they were subjected to such cruel treatment, especially in a bleeding economy like Nigeria’s, causing discontent and unease among civil servants.
Workers in the state were almost never identified as State Government employees in public places, not because they did not wear tags around their necks to introduce themselves, but because of the way and manner in which 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 of this ultimately ended with Obaseki assuming control of 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 wasn’t enough, public servants in Edo State were taken aback when their May salaries reflected a 33.3 percent increase, just a few weeks after the announcement was made on May 1, in honor of the 2022 Workers’ Day celebration.
This is not the first time Governor Obaseki has shown excessive concern for the welfare of the state’s workers. When the Federal Government approved the current thirty thousand Naira (N30,000) minimum wage, Edo State was one of the first in the federation to begin implementing the salary structure by raising the state’s minimum wage from twenty five thousand Naira (25,000) to thirty thousand Naira (N30,000).
Even now, while the Federal Government has yet to consider raising worker wages, Governor Obaseki increased worker salaries in the State by 33.3 percent across the board, resulting in an increase in minimum wage of 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 Nigeria’s inflation rate exceeding 17%, millions of workers and the average Nigerian can no longer live decent and comfortable lives on their earnings.
This has had a significant impact on workers’ attitudes toward work, as well as their productivity and efficiency.
Edo is the first state in Nigeria to take a proactive approach to worker welfare in the post-pandemic era.
With the average Nigerian’s standard of living steadily declining and prices of goods and services skyrocketing daily with no end in sight, Governor Obaseki’s gesture has helped cushion the ripple effects of the state’s current double-digit inflation for public servants in comparison to the populace.
The gesture has also served as a source of motivation for state employees to be more effective and efficient in their 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 and Porter’s 1991 definition of motivation as “the set of forces that cause people to behave in certain ways” agrees with the traditional approach on motivation perspectives proposed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, popularly known as the “Father of Scientific Management,” who proposed the use of an incentive pay system to motivate workers.
Clearly, the increase in salaries of state employees has become a useful incentive, leading to an improvement in the attitude of state employees, who have been given renewed hope by the Obaseki administration to find dignity in their work.