2024: PDP Guber Candidate, Ajayi Promises Ondo Workers N76,000 Minimum Wage
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the November 16, 2024, Ondo State governorship election, Agboola Ajayi, has promised to pay N76,000 minimum wage to workers if elected the governor of the state.
The PDP candidate, during a debate organised by Channels Television on Sunday ahead of the election, said he ready to surpass the N73,000 minimum wage of the incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Ajayi said Ondo State workers deserve better pay as an oil Producing State saying Governor Aiyedatiwa has received over 132b from the federation account since he assumed office as governor.
” Governor Aiyedatiwa promised to pay N73,000 as minimum wage, I promise to pay N76,000 when I become governor. You said Ondo workers are happy with your N73,000 but I know they will be happier with N76,000 as their minimum wage”.
Reacting, the Governor said N73,000 is what is attainable in the state at the moment saying the N76,000 promise of Ajayi is just a mere political statement to curry the favour of the workers.
His words: ” Ondo State Workers are happy with me and my government. What was agreed as minimum wage is N70,000 but I decided to raise the bar to N73,000 as a workers friendly governor and this is attainable considering the allocation from the federal and internally generated revenue ”
Meanwhile, Ajayi said Governor Aiyedatiwa nearly destroy the legacy laid by his Late Boss in Security as Amotekun has his gradually fading away in relevance.
“What we have put in now in Ondo State (Amotekun) under the late governor, not just us but the entire South-West region. We looked at what was happening then, kidnapping here and there, and said what can we do?
“I must give it to our late boss, he had the courage and boldness and say we must establish Amotekun which is more or less a state police arrangement. But unfortunately these days, that legacy is almost destroyed by the incumbent governor,” Ajayi said.
Aiyedatiwa, however, denied Ajayi’s claim, saying that he is strengthening the Amotekun Security Corps and will even strengthen it further if he is returned to office.
Ajayi, who was the deputy governor of the state during Akeredolu’s first term in office, recalled how he contributed to the formation of the Amotekun security corps, saying that the current governor isn’t improving the outfit because he does not know how it was formed.
He promised that if elected, he would strengthen the Amotekun with modern security gadgets and equipment so that they could favourably compete with any security outfit in the world.
Meanwhile, Aiyedatiwa maintained that he has done enough to improve security in the state since his assumption of office, saying that Ondo State is now rated as one of the safest and most peaceful states in Nigeria.
However, Ajayi disagreed with the governor’s assertion of Ondo being one of the safest states in the country. According to him, a state where Obas and prominent people are constantly kidnapped cannot be said to be safe.
“A state where Oba has been killed, a state where Obas were kidnapped, a state where the late daughter of Fasoranti was killed. Another embarrassing thing is that Olufon of Ifon was killed gruesomely by unknown persons, up until this moment no single person was arrested,” Ajayi stated.
