MAY DAY : ONDO WORKERS STAGE A WALK OUT
It was like a mild drama, as Ondo state workforce at this year May day rally staged a walkout protest over the address of the Governor at the occasion.
The governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu who vowed not to pay leave bonus of workforce in the state, saying that its not their legitimate right to get the allowance.
Akeredolu,posits that the leave bonus would be paid at a convenient time, stated this while addressing workers in the state during the celebration of 2018 May Day celebration at the Arcade ground in Akure, the state capital on Tuesday.
The aggrieved workers who could not swallow the statement, resulted to workout on the governor while delivering his speech and started shouted on him to showed their grievances on the state government plan not to pay their leaves bonus with different solidarity song.
It took the intervention of security operatives at the event to resist the aggrieved workers not to move closer to where the Governor stood while addressing at the occasion.
The Governor in his words, "I need not remind workers that this Administration inherited a huge debt portfolio when it assumed office last year. It is also a notorious fact that a heavy burden of salary arrears of seven months was on the State. We promised to offset all arrears owed. We have been able to keep the promise, partly. Four months out of the seven months salary arrears owed has been paid so far. We have paid salaries till date.
"The current state of affairs is depressing. We are far away from our destination, even if we have found the right path. The journey to redemption is arduous, no doubt. All of us must show sufficient commitment to drag the state out of poverty.
"The practice of near-total dependence on Federal Allocation must change. Other states can afford to be complacent, not our dear Ondo State whose people’s industry contributed immensely to the country’s GDP in the past. It is a tragic irony that some people now refer to our State as a civil service enclave where governance has been reduced, virtually, to payment of salaries, allowances, grants and subventions.
"The retrogressive attitude of over-dependence on oil revenue has had its debilitating effects on the polity. It has exposed even the workforce to a charge of indolence. It has rendered claims based on perceived entitlements suspect. It has reduced our artisans to the deplorable status of mere serfs in their own country. Our people are unable to measure or feel the real impact and justification for an over-bloated public service, 1% of the population, which gobbles 95% of the earnings of the State. The pervasive poverty in the land is traceable to a largely unproductive and parasitic workforce.
"This Administration solicits the support of the workers, nay the generality of our people in the informal sector. We have taken fundamental steps to reverse the backward trend. We will continue to encourage genuine investors to partner with our Government for the development of the neglected sectors of the economy. We appeal to workers to adopt a new attitude towards the business of governance. It is only this progressive partnership which holds a true redemptive promise".
In her own address, the state Chairperson, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Bosede Daramola implores the Governor to pay their three months salary arrears and 20% balance of October 2016 and leave allowance of 2017.
She also called on the state government as a matter of urgency to sanitize the educational system, saying that adequate attention should be given to all the states technical schools for total overhauling and repositioning.
On the Local Government Autonomy, Daramola therefore implored Honourable Members of Ondo state House of Assembly to as a matter urgency identify with the aspirations of Nigerians by displaying the courage to vote 'YES' for local government autonomy in Nigeria.
While also commenting on 2019 general elections, Comrade Daramola appealed to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be an unbiased umpire while politicians should not make the election a do or die one but to play the game according to the set rules and dictates of the law as the blood of any Nigerian does not worth the ambition of anyone.
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