Abeokuta: By Our REPORTER
Published Tuesday, May 2, 2023
TRADE UNION CONGRESS (TUC), Ogun State Council has demanded 40% pay rise in the salaries of public workers in Ogun State.
The State Chairman, TUC, Ogun State Council, in the same vein, showers encomium on the State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun for giving the Council a parcel of land in a choice area with the certificate of occupancy, adding that the government should facilitate the building of the structure on the land for the convenience of the Council as promised.
Speaking during this year May Day celebration with the theme “Workers’ Rights and Socio-economic Justice” at the M.K.O. Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta yesterday, the State Chairman of the Trade Union Council enjoined the Prince Dapo Abiodun Administration to consider increasing the salaries of the State workforce by 40%, emulating the Federal Government implementation of 40% peculiar allowance to federal civil servants since January, 2023 to bridging the holes that current inflationary trends create in workers’ purse.
Comrade Akeem Lasisi, Chairman, TUC Ogun State Council urged the Ogun government not just look into the possibility of a similar gesture for Ogun workers, but see that such considerations become a reality in the shortest possible time, adding that Federal Government workers and their states’ counterparts patronise the same markets, and their children attend the schools in the same country. He said the ₦30,000 minimum wage could no longer take any worker anywhere in Nigeria.
The labour leader reminded Governor Abiodun that the implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MOA) signed on 29th June 2022 was yet to be fully implemented, calling on the government to release the balance of ₦5.2 billion outstanding on workers’ co-operatives deductions as well as payment of 2015 – 2022 Leave Allowance for all categories of workers.
Comrade Lasisi appealed to the governor to increase from ₦600m to ₦2billion the quarterly release payment of gratuity to retired workers, as well as increasing minimum ₦5000 pension to ₦10,000.
He lamented the fate of workers who would be retiring in the next one and a half years on the failed Contributory Pension Scheme, appealing to the governor to immediately implement the recommendations of the two committees on the Contributory Pension Scheme and Consequential Adjustment on Minimum Pension.
The TUC State Chairman further enjoined Ogun State government to approve the 14-Working Day Paternity Leave for any serving male officer whose spouse is delivered of a baby or adopts a baby of less than 4 months old in line with the 2021 Nigeria Civil Service reforms.
He appealed to the governor to facilitate the re-opening of banks that were vandalized during the wake of the 3-month cash crunch crisis in Sagamu and its environs as the innocent residents and workers in the area continue to suffer untold hardship and they have to travel to Ijebu Ode and Abeokuta before they could run bank transactions.
Comrade Lasisi appreciated Governor Abiodun for running a worker friendly administration and the gifts of official cars to the labour centres and buses for some their affiliates, however, pleading that the governor should extend such kindness to other affiliates.
“Recently, the two Labour Centres visited you and we got more than we bargained with gifts of official cars to the centers and buses to some of our affliates. You are greatly valued for these acts of kindness. We plead that the JNC in particular and indeed other affiliated unions should be considered for this gestures gradually, one after the other”, he pleaded.
He further thanked the governor for giving out temporary employment to thousands of unemployed youth under ‘Ogun Teach’ to fill existing vacancies in both primary and secondary schools as well as close to 2,000 ASCON applicants employed by the immediate past administration without files and records whom you brought into the mainstream of the public service and paid a year backlog of their salaries. He, however enjoined the governor to absorb Ogun Teach applicants into the State civil service at the end of their service years.
The TUC Chairman also praised the governor for approving five years promotion exercises of five years (2018 – 2022) in his first 4-year tenure alone, saying the establishment of the Agro cargo airport, apart from its socio-economic importance, has the capacity to remove another 20,000 youth from unemployment market.
He generally showered accolades on the governor for other good works and achievements such as the appointments of Permanent Secretaries/Principals-General, Headmasters-General based on competence, seniority and merit, and the payment of the salary of workers in Water Corporation during the first term.
Akeem Lasisi further reminded the governor of his promises to some teacher-awardees and schools during the 2022 May Day edition, saying various prizes ranging from cash and houses should be redeemed very soon. The recipients were Mr. Paul Adelana, Best Teacher, Junior School category, Mr. Tajudeen Odufeso, Overall Best teacher, Mr Bosun Fagbamila, Best School Administrator, Mr. Olusesan Orebanjo, Best Teacher, Public Primary School, St Michael African Church Primary School 1, Best Public Primary School in Ogun State and Nigeria, Mr. Tajudeen Ayantola, Best Teacher, Private Senior Secondary School, and Mr Olopade Falore, Best Teacher, Junior Private Schools Category.
He called on the Governor Abiodun to reward Engineer Olumayowa Idowu, who was the Best-Graduating student out of the 50 selected Best Civil Servants in the Nigerian Public Service at the World Class Leadership Programme of Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, an initiative of AIG Imoukhuede Institute to motivate other Ogun State citizens.
