Oyo State - Accolades, as Ajimobi launches ten 43-seater free shuttle buses for Oyo workers

[OyoState]

It was accolades galore for Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State by civil servants at the launch of ten 43-seater buses that would be conveying them and students to and fro their offices and schools on daily basis free of charge.

The governor, while speaking at the ceremony held at the State Government Secretariat, Ibadan, pledged that his administration would continue to ensure the welfare of the people and uplift their lives.

He said that the launch of the 10 buses tagged "Ajumose Shuttle'' was part of his administration's 100 43-seater buses and another 100 mini-buses meant to ameliorate the transport situation in the state.

According to the governor, who noted that no government had achieved this feat in the history of governance in the state, an injection of the buses into the system would go a long way in bringing succour to the lives of the people of the state.

"As we have said several times in our dialogue with our people, the power we sought, which the Almighty God bestowed unto us through the good people of the state, is the power to do good to our people.

"We thank God that in the last 21 months, we have used the instrumentality of the people's power to wipe away tears from the faces of our people in discomfort,'' he said.

Governor Ajimobi, while saying that the Ajumose Shuttle was another effort of his administration in making life more abundant for the people, explained that it was designed to lessen the burdens of the teeming workers in their daily commuting to and fro office.

"We reckon that if we provide free transportation early in the morning for workers and students, as well as providing free transportation for them while leaving office in the evening, we would have significantly lessened their burden of transportation.

"This is the first in the scheme that will ease transportation, not only in Ibadan but also in our other major towns of Oyo, Ogbomoso, Saki and Iseyin. We shall soon introduce other measures that will integrate our public transportation into the on-going urban renewal project,'' he said.

The governor said that civil servants were very critical in the scheme of things, adding that they were the engine room of whatever development envisaged for the state.

"This is why we are passionate about making life meaningful for the generality of our workers. Call it selfish if you like, a civil servant who is well-catered for and whose existential burdens have been largely taken off by government, will be useful as a tool for the developmental objective of government,'' he contended.

As a demonstration of love and regard for the civil service, Governor Ajimobi said that his administration had done more for the state workers than any previous administration.

For instance, he recalled that about 13,000 workers had been trained since his administration came on board and that a total of 12, 211 teachers were promoted not too long ago.

Also, he said that his administration ensured the promotion of 1,714 civil servants through the instrumentality of the Civil Service Commission in 2012, aside the breaking of the stagnation of typists in the civil service by getting them trained as Secretarial Assistants and Data Processing Assistants.

According to him, one of the key areas in which his administration had shown immense love for civil servants is the upward review of housing loans for civil and public servants by 100 percent.

"For the second time in less than two years of our administration, we have paid fully the 13^th month salary to workers, while prompt payment of civil servants' salary has become our policy.

"We are still yearning to do more. We hope and pray that by the time we leave office, we would have made it difficult for any in-coming administration to ever dream of lowering the standard of betterment of the lives of our workers,'' he said.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Transport, Mr. Yemi Aderibigbe, in his remarks, described the governor as a leader and welfarist, stating that the buses would cover all the designated routes in Ibadan.

Speaking on behalf of the workers, the Chairman, Joint Negotiating Council in the state, Mr. Nurudeen Arowolo, thanked government for the initiative, adding that civil servants in the state had never seen a worker-friendly government as the Ajimobi administration.

Via: Oyo State Government - Official Press Release

[Shola Sholaz]

That is very good of Oyo STATE, I hope Gov Fashola is actually seeing and learning for it