Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State, has reiterated his administration’s commitment to addressing workers’ welfare by investigating deductions and promotion arrears in the state’s public service before the end of his tenure.
Fayemi stated that the government would continue to do everything possible within available resources to address issues concerning workers’ welfare and well-being, urging them to cooperate with the government.
The governor stated on Friday in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, during a visit by members of the Nigeria Labour Congress led by its chairman, Kolapo Olatunde, that his government had kept its promise not to owe workers’ salaries, thus the regular salary payment to them.
He said, “Your point about deductions and promotion arrears is well taken and I believe we would do something before this administration completes its tenure in office.
“On promotion arrears, we have cleared 2017/2018, we have 2019/2020 that we have to come to terms with. Equally, I know minimum wage adjustment for level 14 and above is one of the issues on your table. We would keep trying to make sure that we make our workers happy and put the leadership of the workforce in a place where they can also hold their own heads high.
“Unfortunately, our pensioners allowed themselves to be deceived when opposition elements distorted the objectives behind our promissory note and bonds scheme which would have enabled us clear a good number of pensioners’ gratuities by now.”
“So, we have had to continue with our N100 million monthly commitment for payment of gratuities to pensioners. Even that has now become difficult for us in our current economic circumstances.
Fayemi said that current money crisis being experienced by many state governments, including Ekiti, was due to the global economic down turn which had resulted in zero-remittance by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation to the Federation Account in the last six months.
Earlier, the NLC Chairman, Olatunde, had urged the state government to fashion out modalities to address the accumulated gratuities and remittance of outstanding salary deductions to cooperative societies.