Ondo denies sack of workers

THE Ondo State government on Wednesday, denied sacking some 600 government workers attached to various classes of traditional rulers in the state.

The workers were said to be relieved of their appointments following the removal of their names from the government remittal system of paying salaries to workers.

The workers discovered that their names had been removed from the government remittal system after the payment of the May salary to workers in the state.

But reacting to the sack, the Chief Press Secretary to the State governor, Mr Segun Ajiboye, denied the sack of the workers attached to traditional rulers in the state.

Ajiboye who stated this in a Press statement, explained that workers were ad-hoc staff integrated into the local government service.

He disposed that the removal of the names of the workers from the state remittal system did not translate to termination of their appointments saying the state government does not have plan to sack any worker in the state.

Ajiboye said: “the Ondo State Government hereby denies reports in a section of the media that it had sacked 600 local government workers attached to traditional rulers across the state.

“The said 600 workers were adhoc staff integrated into local government service and made full members of staff.

“Therefore, the removal of the workers’ name from the remittal does not in any way affect the payment of their salaries nor their status as workers on their respective places of assignment.

“The government’s decision was informed by the need to make the workers more dedicated to their duties and to be committed to traditional rulers they work for.

“The present administration led by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, is committed to make welfare of workers its priority and does not have any plan to sack workers in the state.”

About 600 local government workers attached to various classes of traditional rulers in had been reportedly sacked by the state government.

However, the leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Ondo state has vowed to resist the action saying the government latest action was contrary to the promise of the governor.

The Chairman of the NLC in the state, Bosede Daramola’s said, “These workers irrespective of who they were working directly with were employed properly and captured under the remittal system.

“It is unacceptable for government to sack them and expose them to previous system when the workers were being paid indiscriminately by the monarchs they were working directly under.”

She also explained that the congress would not accept a situation whereby some monarchs would collect money meant for the workers and pay them peanuts.