IT was an unusual development for Honourable Tunji Odeyemi, a former acting governor of Ekiti State, former Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the immediate past chairman of the Ekiti State House of Assembly Service Commission. He and some other appointees of the Ayodele Fayose administration received their outstanding entitlements from Governor Kayode Fayemi. Odeyemi said: “We are most delighted for an avenue like this. I must confess that this opportunity we are having today is very uncommon. When a new governor or government comes on board, what it usually does is to remove members of commissions and boards appointed by its predecessor, not minding the laws establishing those commissions. But you have magnanimously retained us and are now paying our outstanding salaries. As far as Ekiti is concerned, from 1999 to date, the opportunity we are having like this has not been very common.” The former acting governor said Fayemi’s action was clearly devoid of personal vendetta. He said that they (Fayose appointees) expected to be removed from office once the governor stepped into the saddle last year.
Fayemi, who was represented on that occasion by his Chief of Staff, Hon. Biodun Omoleye, lauded the former political office holders for continuing to work in the interest of the state even after the exit of the administration that brought them to office. The beneficiaries were mainly drawn from the State Civil Service Commission and House of Assembly Service Commission. Fayemi described their gesture in serving his administration after Fayose’s exit as a clear act of patriotism. Such acts of treating everyone equally irrespective of political affiliation are reflective of the One Ekiti spirit that Governor Fayemi has pursued since his inauguration for a second time last year.
Besides opposition political elements, pensioners have also benefited from the governor’s pro-active measures. Only last Wednesday, the governor disclosed that a total of N549 million has been paid till date to clear part of the pension arrears inherited from the immediate past administration. He disclosed this while distributing cheques worth N100 Million as gratuity to 61 local government and primary schools’ retirees.
Dr. Fayemi said the steps taken towards clearing the backlog of gratuity is a testament to the desire of his administration to ensure that those who had spent their productive age in serving the State do not suffer after their retirement. “It is a fact that outstanding gratuity debt profile is running to billions of naira, but it is my belief that a journey of one thousand miles starts with a step. Based on this premise, we are starting with the release of N100 million for the offset of the outstanding gratuity. In spite of paucity of fund, I have mandated the quarterly release of fund for the payment of gratuity to retirees of local government and primary schools of Ekiti State”, he said.
While promising to alleviate the sufferings of the pensioners by making regular payment of their exit benefits a top priority, the governor stated that their entitlements would be paid within available resources. Fayemi said his government was not unmindful of those who had passed on in the cause of waiting for their entitlements; saying this is regrettable. “I urge the beneficiaries of this tranche of the payment to take advantage of the talks on financial prudence already shared with you and utilise the fund judiciously for a blissful retirement. I enjoin others to keep faith with our administration as we are poised to fulfil all our promises to the people of the State, and utmost importance is your gratuity,” the governor said.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Local Government and Community Development, Prof. Adio Folayan had said that the event was a practical demonstration that Fayemi places priority attention on the welfare of retired senior citizens. Folayan said the Fayemi-led administration inherited N13,513,873,255.27 as arrears of gratuity and N2,689,838,380.61 as pension arrears but was making efforts to clear the backlog of inherited wage bill. One of the beneficiaries, Madam Felicia Ojaomo, thanked the governor for remembering the pensioners after years of abandonment. She said Fayemi’s return was an answer to the prayers of the pensioners who had hoped for better days, adding that the distribution of cheques to them was a testimony that he had started fulfilling his campaign promises to pensioners.
- Onye writes in from Lagos
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