#WorldTeachersDay: Ekiti NLC asks EFCC to charge detained commissioner, others to court

The organised labour in Ekiti State has said the detention of the state’s Commissioner for Finance, Chief Toyin Ojo and the Accountant-General, Mrs. Yemisi Owolabi, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is delaying the payment of the workers and asked the agency to charge them to court.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, which cried out in a speech at the celebration of the Teachers’ Day in Ado Ekiti, said if the EFCC had anything against the government officials, it should charge them to court rather than detaining them ad infinitum.

The chairman of NLC in the state, Ade Adesanmi, represented by his deputy, Gbenga Akosile, decried the continued detention of Ojo and Mrs. Owolabi, saying the “continued detention of the commissioner and count ant general is delaying the payment of salaries to the hungry workers in the state.”

Adesanmi said: “If the EFCC has anything against them, they should charge them to court so they can come home and pay us our salaries. We are currently hungry and we want to collect the little that we are entitled to now. The actions and the inactions of politicians is having a toll on workers in Ekiti.”

ALSO READ: #WorldTeachers’Day: Fayose splashes car gifts, N100 million, others on Ekiti teachers

The 2017 celebration witnessed the usual government car gifts to the best teachers in primary and secondary schools and the tutor-general, with Governor Fayose announcing that this year’s winners would, in addition to the cars, enjoy a weeklong vacation to either London or Dubai.

Fayose hailed Ekiti teachers’ efforts in getting the state to come tops in NECO for two consecutive years, and announced automatic promotion to grade level 16 for all level 14 graduate primary school teachers ‎in the state..

The also gave N100 million cash gift to the teachers, which he said would be paid directly into the personal account of the teachers and also promised to increase the cash gift to N150 million if the NECO mad WAEC successes were repeated next year.

Fayose said: “Today, I have made Ekiti teachers proud without subjecting them to inhuman treatment that the last administration subjected them to. Today, you can see the difference.

“This is why I am giving you my dear son, Olusola for next governor, just like Jesus gave the Holy Spirit as Comforter when He was leaving the Christians.

“It is only in continuity that you can continue to have car gifts for teachers in the state. Just like it is being sustained in Lagos, let us sustain the Fayose legacy in Ekiti and ensure this government continues.”

The EFCC arrested Chief Ojo and Mrs. Owolabi on September 28, saying they refused to honour its invitation following allegations of the alleged mishandling of Paris Club refunds to the state.