Segun Oni, SDP guber candidate assures Ekiti workers on job security

Social Democratic Party governorship candidate in Ekiti State and former Governor, Engr. Segun Oni has assured workers in the state public service that he will not sack them.

Oni gave the assurance ahead of the June 18 governorship election in the state while meeting with Ekiti Build Back Better group, led by Idowu Adelusi in his country home at Ifaki Ekiti over the weekend.

Oni said he has no plan to sack any public servant employed under the administrations of Governor Kayode Fayemi and his predecessor, Ayodele Fayose if he becomes the governor of the state again.

The former governor recalled his own history with the civil service when he became governor in 2007 that he employed 4000 workers and did not sack any of the workers employed by the administrations of former Governors Niyi Adebayo and Ayodele Fayose.

While describing himself as a human capital development expert and administrator par excellence, the SDP governorship candidate said the Fayemi’s administration and that of former Governor Fayose cannot pay workers salaries and pensioners as at when due because of poor management of resources, adding that the state’s revenue was quite sufficient “to pay the monthly workers’ salaries and the pensioners’ entitlements, as well as grow the economy of the state, if properly utilised.”

Oni added: “Direct employment of young people into the civil service took place.  Over 4,000 new jobs were made without going through any godfather.

“There were many vacancies, because the civil servants were willing to retire because of the prospect of getting their gratuity within three months of retirement.

“The government provided microcredit facilities to farmers, artisans and young graduates and introduced a local content policy that compelled contractors to employ local people in their companies.

“The government also collaborated with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) for skill acquisition for the youths and, thus, provided alternative means of employment.

“The government also made farming more attractive by providing enabling facilities in the rural areas, thus, reducing rural-urban migration, youth unemployment and discouraging the youths engaging in nefarious activities which are prevalent now. 

“The state government also brought in experts to train the youths in sporting activities. Some of the youths later became national stars.

“Oni did not engage in illegal sacking of workers, whether in the civil service, the tertiary institutions or the local government. He did not indiscriminately dissolve statutory boards; all the board members, particularly in the statutory boards, enjoyed their tenures without any inhibition.

“Oni is a democrat, who believes in the rule of law and not the rule of thumb like some former governors who almost turned the state upside down for their selfish reasons.

“I, therefore, called on the Ekiti people, the workers, pensioners, artisans, teachers, market women, students and traders to vote for Oni to become their governor for a better Ekiti State.”