Stop creating problems for Makinde’s govt, group warns Ajimobi

A socio-political group in Oyo State, the Oyo Kajola Group (OKG), has warned the outgoing governor of the state, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, to stop creating policy bottlenecks for the incoming governor, Mr Seyi Makinde.

The group, in a statement by its media coordinator, Taiwo Ogunlade, said it had observed that the outgoing government has recently been taking some bile-infested actions, possibly aimed at frustrating the instant take-off of the incoming administration.

It, however, said that with its knowledge of the governor-elect, no amount of impediments strewn on the path of his administration will debar him from providing quality service to the people of the state,

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According to the group, which noted that it has observed every action and utterance of Governor Ajimobi since the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost the governorship election on March 9, “it is unbecoming of an administration that has spent eight years in the saddle to orchestrate policy somersaults and start the implementation of policies aimed largely at creating problems for the incoming administration.”

The Oyo Kajola Group pointed out that Ajimobi’s actions such as his insincerity on the N30,000 minimum wage, by claiming he will pay N30,000 when he is not known to have paid N18,000 since 2011 and saying it would not be difficult for the state to pay the new wage since; the contract award spree and the announcement of full restoration of 100 per cent subventions to tertiary institutions barely a week to his government’s exit are merely targeted at creating bottlenecks for the Makinde administration.

The group wondered why the state government had suddenly realised its responsibilities to the tertiary institutions, workers and other sectors, after abandoning them for so long, saying “it can only be evidence that the outgoing administration had deliberately strangulated the institutions all along. Little wonder our people in Oyo state rewarded them with the huge mark of failure at the general elections.

“Whereas the incoming governor had raised issues about the practice of the nation’s federalism, which generalises wages and service conditions across the states, he has not also foreclosed the payment of living wages to our people. What we understand by his statement is a call for more dialogue with the workers of Oyo state. We are behind him in doing that,” the statement read in part.

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“During a recent radio programme, Governor Ajimobi had attempted to wear the toga of a statesman for the first time since his party’s electoral misfortune by stating that Oyo State had been in pains coping with the existing N18, 000 wage, but he immediately backslid into double-speak by claiming that the new government would be able to pay N30,000.

“For a man who has been paying N13,500 as the state’s minimum wage for eight years; for a government that has refused to promote workers as and when due, failing to pay promotion arrears, which has culminated in the ongoing strike by primary school teachers, it is deceitful to suddenly jump at the N30,000 without looking at the foundational matters,” the group further stated.