Oyo Assembly announces 30% pay cut to support COVID-19 battle

Members of Oyo State House of Assembly have announced that they would take a 30 per cent cut in their monthly allocation to support the ongoing battle against COVID-19 in the state.

The lawmakers made the disclosure after a meeting with the state governor, Seyi Makinde in Ibadan at the weekend. They said the cut would include both their salaries and other monthly allowances entitled to them.

The position of the lawmakers was made public in a statement on Monday, released by the Chairman, Oyo House Committee on Information and Media, Kazeem Olayanju.

According to the statement, the decision was to ensure that civil servants in the state continue to receive their regular salaries, not minding the current economic situation in the state due to the effect of the novel coronavirus.

“Our income has been slashed by 30 per cent as our support towards COVID-19.

“The governor brought the idea and we agreed that effective this month, there should be the 30 per cent deduction.

“We were made to understand that the pandemic had greatly affected the economy of the country and the state as well as that the Federal Government has reduced allocation by 60 per cent.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: Chinese billionaire Jack Ma sends second batch of medical supplies to Nigeria, others

“This situation could have affected regular payment of salary of Oyo State civil servants but the governor maintained that irrespective of the economic situation of Oyo state, the salary of civil servants must not be affected.

“Hence, we agreed that political office holders should make sacrifices,” the statement read.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now