A storm of quiet anger is brewing within the Oyo State civil and public service. It is not the anger of rebellion, but the pain of people who feel pushed to the wall, unheard, and slowly suffocated by policies that ignore their daily realities.
At the heart of this growing discontent is a simple but powerful cry: *OYSHIA should not toy with our personal emoluments.*
For workers whose salaries have already been weakened by inflation and rising costs of living, the proposed *7.5% salary deduction for health insurance subscription is not seen as a benefit,* it is perceived as a slow and dangerous erosion of their right to survive. To many, this policy is nothing short of economic violence, a decision that threatens to break bodies long before it heals them.
*Personal emoluments are sacred.* They represent the reward for labor, time and sacrifice. They are the means through which workers feed their families, educate their children, pay rent and attend to emergencies. Any unilateral deduction especially one as heavy as 7.5%—without genuine consultation or consent is an act of disregard for the humanity of the workforce.
Health insurance, in principle, is noble. No worker argues against access to quality healthcare. But when the cost of that access is extracted from already struggling salaries, the policy becomes self-defeating. A worker who cannot afford food, transportation, or shelter cannot remain healthy enough to benefit from insurance coverage. What is presented as care quickly turns into cruelty.
*Many workers describe the deduction as tantamount to mass killing,* not in a literal sense, but in the crushing, daily sense of deprivation. When salaries shrink, malnutrition increases. Stress deepens. Depression grows. Medical conditions worsen because people delay care they can no longer afford in daily life. A policy designed to protect health must not first destroy livelihoods.
OYSHIA must understand that civil servants are not numbers on a payroll. They are human beings with responsibilities that do not pause for policy experiments. A 7.5% deduction may appear modest in administrative documents, but on the ground it can mean the difference between survival and collapse for thousands of households.
What deepens the workers’ resentment is the feeling of exclusion. Policies that directly affect workers’ welfare must be born out of dialogue, not imposed by fiat. True reform is participatory. Anything else breeds distrust, resistance, and moral injury.
Oyo State civil and public service workers are not rejecting healthcare reform—they are rejecting insensitivity. They demand transparency, alternatives, and a humane approach that does not turn their salaries into a testing ground for policy ambitions.
*The message is clear and urgent: do not toy with personal emoluments.* Do not impose deductions that strip workers of dignity under the guise of welfare. A government that truly values its workforce must protect their income as fiercely as it protects its policies.
Because when workers are financially strangled, no insurance can save them. And when a system meant to heal begins by hurting, it loses its moral authority to lead.
*The concerned Oyo Civil/Public Service Workers*
14th January, 2026
