Oyo State House of Assembly members have made an announcement that they will be taking a 30 percent cut in their monthly allocation, to help the state in combating the novel Coronavirus.
Governor Seyi Makinde had a meeting with the lawmakers in Ibadan last weekend which prompted the decision. The 30 per cent pay cut includes both the lawmakers’ salaries and other monthly allowances entitled to them as State honourables.
The lawmakers stated that they made the decision of the taking the pay cut in order to ensure that the regular payment of civil servants’ salaries is not affected, irrespective of the economic situation in the state.
The statement released on Monday April 20, by the Chairman, Oyo House Committee on Information and Media Kazeem Olayanju, reads;
“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.
“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.”