Dr Kayode Fayemi’s Government in Ekiti State has assured workers in the state that it has no plan to sack any of its workers.
This was against the widespread media reports, alleging that it has completed plans to sack over 10,000 of its workers.
The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Kayode Fayemi, Yinka Oyebode, gave the clarification in a press release signed and made available to PMParrot on Sunday afternoon in Ado-Ekiti.
Oyebode maintained that the state government has no plan to sack any of its workers. He urged them to see the media reports as false and misleading.
According to him, “The attention of the Government of Ekiti State has been drawn to some media reports alleging that the administration had concluded plans to sack workers in the state’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s). The misleading news reports, which quoted an anonymous source in the office of the Head of Service, is nothing but a tissue of lies and a figment of the imagination of the writers.”
“The Office of the Head of Service has denied any plan to carry out any disengagement in the listed MDA’s as claimed in the malicious reports. The Head of Service, Mr Ayodeji Ajayi, is the state official with authority to speak on issues relating to the service and not the rumour mill.
“Contrary to the concocted lies of the writers, the state government wishes to place it on record that it has no plan to sack anyone in the MDAs. Instead, it is about concluding the process of employing about 3,000 workers in the Teaching and Civil Service in the State. The recruitment process, which was well advertised, commenced in September 2019 and has reached the final stage as no fewer than 98 percent of the applicants that passed the competitive examinations have gone through interview sessions preparatory to the issuance of their letters of employment as teachers in the public primary and secondary schools as well as placements in different departments of the State’s Service,” The Chief Press Secretary submitted.
Mr. Oyebode revealed that the recruitment process is going on side by side with other social security investment programmes for the youth and elderly citizens.
He used the opportunity to inform the civil servants and the entire people in the state to ignore the misleading reports and be wary of hack writers and discredited purveyors of fake news, whose agenda is to cause unnecessary anxiety in the state.
While reacting to the CPS’s statement, the Ekiti State Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Comrade (Pharm.) Kolapo Joshua Olatunde said what is happening now is not supposed to happen at this period when the union is on the last lap of signing the new minimum wage.
“How Ekiti workers found themselves where they are remains a mirage. Cutting off the head should not be a panacea to headache. When we are supposed to be signing final agreement on minimum wage, disengagement letters with weeping and crying everywhere. This is painful.”
Comrade Olatunde used the opportunity to call on the State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi to stop the trend and called all the disengaged staff members back to work.
His Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Comrade Sola Adigun, in his reaction said that it is delightful to hear that news from the government that there is no plan to sack workers in the State.
Comrade Adigun noted this will go a long way to alleviate the fears among workers and labour leaders.
Packaged by Emmanuel Adeniran, Ado-Ekiti
