ABEOKUTA– The Chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Ogun State Chapter, Comrade Isa Olude has charged Governor Dapo Abiodun to prioritize the welfare of its work force, saying they are the engine room to the state’s economic growth.
Olude stated this at the celebration of the 2022 Worker’s Day and award ceremony held at the Association’s Secretariat in Abeokuta, the state capital on Saturday.
Olude, who also doubles as the Chairman, Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) in Ogun State, while speaking with newsmen noted that the union is engaging the government in making sure the welfare of its members is taking care of.
“As a Union, we will continue to keep government on it toes concerning our welfare. We have a lot of demands from the state government, ranging from leave allowance that has not been paid for over 8 years, our contributing pension, deduction that has been on for about 21 months, and many other things that affect the welfare of workers in the state.
“We will continue to engage with the government, while hoping that government will take the advise of labour.
“The civil service is the engine room of any government, because they run the affairs of government. It is when you allow the engine to run effectively, that is when you can have economic growth.
“We are talking to government to take the issue of workers’ welfare seriously. As we speak, we have pensions that has not been paid, even arrears and bonus that are affecting the productivity of the work force in Ogun State”, he added.
Olude, however noted that his administration decided to honor it’s past leaders as a break away from the norm of honoring hero(es) when they are no more.
He added that, “When we look at history, particularly in this part of the world, where we tend to celebrate our hero(es) at death.
“But the onset of our administration, under my leadership we decided to celebrate our legends when they are very much alive so that we can tap more from their wealth of experience.”
One of the awardee and former Head of Service, Mrs Modupe Adekunle lauded the chairman and his team for counting her worthy of the award of excellence, saying, “even though I have been out of active service, my contribution is still been noticed by the present administration”
Adekunle however stated that although the civil servants is not supposed to be partisan in electioneering, she emphasized they should be concern in determining the emergence of leaders in the country.
“The rule book of every civil servants is the like the law book. So, once you are conversant with it’s details, you will definitely not go wrong”, she advises.
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