Dismissed, compulsorily retired Oyo civil servants set for return to service

Some of the about 1,803 Oyo civil and public servants dismissed or compulsorily retired by the immediate past administration are set for a return to service within the next four weeks.

Governor Seyi Makinde gave this assurance while receiving the report of an investigative panel set up to consider appeals, the petition of over alleged illegal retirement, dismissal between 2011 and 2019, at governor’s office, on Wednesday.

Makinde explained his resolve to implement recommendations of the committee was to ensure that innocent civil and public servants were not wrongfully dismissed or retired.

“Recommendations will be implemented right away, some in the medium and long term.

I believe it’s better to allow 100 guilty persons to pass through than to punish one innocent individual.

“We’ll look at recommendations immediately. If you ask us to bring some back, we will bring them back almost immediately.

“The time frame for implementation of these recommendations will not be more than four weeks,” Makinde said.

Presenting the report earlier, head of the review committee, Mr David Olatunde has noted that the committee received 1,803 appeals out of which 1,325 were those alleged to have fake results while others were found culpable of misconduct under general civil service administration rules.

According to Olatunde, while there were clear cases of miscarriage of administrative justice against civil and public servants between 2011 and 2019, he noted that some of the officers dismissed or compulsorily retired actually walked the path of misconduct that deserved consequences.

Olatunde had noted that the recommendations stipulated those who could be reabsorbed, those who were wrongfully dismissed and those whose dismissal was in order.

It would be recalled that the former Governor Abiola Ajimobi led administration had under series of workforce restructuring exercises dismissed workers for possession of fake academic certificates among other offences.

In another committee presentation, the projects and contracts review committee led by Adedamola Falade-Fatila, reported that 88 projects awarded by the Ajimobi administration were ongoing while six projects were totally abandoned.

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According to Falade-Fatima, 484 projects were reported to have been undertaken between 2015 and May 2019 out of which 350 had been completed, though 60 of them had outstanding payments.

Meanwhile, the tax force set up by the state government on the review of operations at Bola Ige International Market, Gbagi, has recommended that the market should have an annex.

Head of the task force, Mr J. O. Oyewole, in his presentation of recommendations to Makinde, suggested that the annex of the market should be sited on the Ibadan-Eruwa road.

Oyewole hinged this site proposal on its proximity to the Lagos-Ibadan rail.

Makinde also received the report of the committee on waste and refuse management in Ibadan, headed by state Head of Service, Mrs Ololade Agboola, in which the cooperation of all environment stakeholders as being central to achieving a clean environment was recommended.

Other reports submitted were those of the investigative panels on Oke-Ogun polytechnic, Saki and Ibarapa polytechnic, Eruwa, and that of committee on workout plan on Ibadan central abattoir.

Commenting on the various committee submissions, Makinde assured that all recommendations will be considered for implementation in the short, medium or long term.

“One thing certain is we have hard decisions to take and I assure you that we will take those hard decisions. You will see the impact of the work done soon,” Makinde said.