Professionals laud Mimiko
CLAIMING irregularities in their appointments and outright inclusion of fictitious names on the payroll, Ondo State government has sacked about 6,000 workers describing them as "ghosts".
The sacking of the workers, who were said to be on the payroll of the state's 18 local councils, was sequel to the report of a staff audit committee set up by the government.
Meanwhile, the opposition People's Democratic Party's (PDP) candidate in the last governorship election, Chief Olusola Oke, has condemned the sack of over 17, 000 local government workers.
He said the retrenchment of 709 in Ilaje, 800 in Odigbo, 550 in Akoko South West local governments among others came on the heels of the sack of 96 at the state university and 43 of the polytechnic.
However, Governor Olusegun Mimiko has been commended for implementing power and industrialisation policies that were described as steps in the right direction.
Specifically, his government's independent power partnership initiative and resolve to industrialise the state and turn Ore to a commercial hub were commended.
An organisation, Ondo Professionals Group (OPG), made the commendation, describing Dr. Mimiko as a visionary leader with a sincere desire for the growth of the state and the nation.
In a statement, the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Rotimi Adelola, said the sack of the ghost workers followed the discovery of monumental fraud in phantom and unauthorised recruitment carried out at the councils of unqualified workers or non-existing individuals whose names are being used to deduct salaries from the local government's accounts monthly.
The statement said a probe committee observed that the difference in nominal roles of the councils between December 2008 and December 2012 was over 10,000 workers claimed to have been employed.
Also, more than 6,000 junior workers and about 4,000 senior ones were recruited within the same period without following due process.
"Before any recruitment could be done at the local government level, the express approval of the state governor should be sought and the local government chairmen should consider if they have the fund to pay the wages of such new recruits," he said.
The statement added that in the last two and half years, the government has been augmenting the salaries of local government workers with between N400 and N500 million monthly, lamenting that the development made it possible for a few to line their pockets with money which could have been used to add value to the lives of the people.
The government vowed that the fraudsters would be punished.
But Oke, a former PDP national legal adviser, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Kunle Adebayo, condemned Mimiko for "unleashing an unprecedented 7,000 per cent tax burden upon the common man, artisans, roadside computer operators, corner shop traders, truck pushers, food vendors, photographers, barbers and newspaper vendors in the name of local revenue drive."
He added: "It is also no longer news that both the sacked 17,000 local government workers and the state civil servants who were hoodwinked with improbable promises and used by the governor as evangelists of his second term bid are now gnashing their teeth and blaming themselves for being used and dumped while all the sweet promises put off like a cigarette in the rains."
In a statement in Akure by its Publicity Secretary, Moyosore Abdul, an engineer, OPG said the delivery at the weekend of turbines for the state's independent power project at Ore to industrialise the area would greatly transform Ondo's fortunes, expose its potential and boost employment.
The "Ore Sunshine City" project is expected to latch on to the Omotosho Power Plant and is expected, at installation, to generate about 30 megawatts to the Odigbo/Ore axis, which according to the blueprint of the state for industrial growth, will be turned into a hub of productive activities.
Some captains of industry such as Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Nigerian Breweries as well as other local and foreign investors have shown interest in the planned Ore Sunshine City.
The Guardian