Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has declared that his recruitment of 1,000 workers into the state’s civil service barely a month to the end of his administration followed due process.
He said contrary to insinuations in some quarters, the fresh employment by his government was not a kangaroo recruitment.
The governor said this in his remarks at the May Day celebration held at the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta, yesterday, where he also promised to offset outstanding deductions and leave bonuses.
He specifically said the state government would commit the sum of N20.2 billion to offset outstanding deductions and April salary, adding that workers would begin to receive bank alerts from today.
New Telegraph gathered that the state government owes workers 18 months deductions and over four years leave bonuses apart from other obligations.
Addressing the workers, Amosun said the latest recruitment of 1,000 workers was carried out via the Public Service Entry Examination conducted by the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) early last year.
He said: “The newly recruited staff is not a kangaroo recruitment. These are people that sat for the exam almost a year back and the procedures were followed; not that Amosun just woke up one day and said because I am leaving, I will bring in more people.
“These are the people that wrote ASCON exam since early last year. We just took 1,000 from them. If we are to pick all that wrote the exam, we may probably say we want to pick 5,000. We picked 1,000 from those that sat for the ASCON exam. We have given them their letters.
“As we employ more and create new offices in the public service, there is also the need to create necessary ambience to bring out the creativity and professionalism of our public servants.”
The governor, who stated that his administration had promoted workers’ welfare, however, declined to commit himself to the implementation of the N30,000 new minimum wage.
He only assured that from today, workers would begin to receive payments of outstanding deductions and April salary while monies for leave bonuses and gratuity would be paid from next week.
Amosun expressed satisfaction that he was leaving the state as governor better than he met it while also bequeathing a more informed and better equipped workforce to the state.
He said: “We are not where we should be, but clearly we are on the right path. Yes, we may have our issues, but to the glory of God, we are leaving Ogun State better than we met it. We are leaving behind a workforce that is more informed, better equipped and can even work anywhere. All we need to do is to follow the path we created.
“Tomorrow, you (workers) will receive N20.2 billion for all outstanding deductions and April salary. From next week, we will begin to pay our leave bonuses.
“As for the gratuity, I am not paying gratuity to 2019. Gratuities are monies we use for development when we leave the service. We must wait at least two years before we bring in our papers and use one year to process the papers. So, when you count back from when we will be leaving, whatever it is that we are owing, we will run round to pay that part of gratuity.”
At the May Day celebration, which featured march-past by workers from various unions, the state chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Emmanuel Bankole, said the union will not relent in pursuing the welfare and better conditions of service for workers in the state.
New Telegraph
