The Edo State government has joined its Kwaran counterpart in reducing the number of work days from five to three in a move to cushion the effect of the petrol subsidy removal on civil servants.

In a statement governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki, said his administration shared the pains of the workers and people of the state, while assuring that his regime will do the needful to ease the aftereffects of the already suspended subsidy on petrol.

Obaseki stressed that his government has increased “the minimum wage paid to workers in Edo state from the approved N30,000 to N40,000, the highest in the country today.”

“In the wake of fuel subsidy removal by the federal government, fuel prices have increased astronomically leading to a rise in prices of goods and services and overall cost of living,” Obaseki said.

“As a proactive government, we have since taken the step to increase the minimum wage paid to workers in Edo state from the approved N30,000 to N40,000, the highest in the country today.

“We want to assure you that we will continue to pay this amount, while we hope to increase it even further if more allocation accrues to our state from the federal government in view of the expected savings occasioned by the removal of the fuel subsidy.

“We know the hardship that has been caused by this policy which has radically increased the cost of transportation, eating deep into the wages of workers in the state.

Therefore, the Edo state government is hereby reducing the number of work days that civil and public servants will have to commute to their workplaces from five days a week to three days a week till further notice. Workers will now work from home two days every week.”

“The Edo SUBEB will provide details on this initiative in the coming days,” he added.

“To lower the rising cost of energy on our people, we will continue to work with the electricity companies in the state to improve power supply to homes and businesses.

“Similarly, fibre optic connections are being made available to help our people work remotely, thereby reducing their cost of transportation.”