The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has warned workers in the state not to be deceived by Governor Ayodele Fayose’s antics, saying his frequent radio and television live broadcasts to paint gloomy financial position of the state is devised to deceive and deny workers of their entitlements.
APC Publicity Secretary in the State, Taiwo Olatubosun, in a statement said the advice became imperative in the face of the rhetoric being deployed by the governor to deceive workers over the over-bloated debt figures as alibi for the government’s handicaps in meeting its salary obligation to workers.
Noting that hundreds of Ekiti workers had been sacked and bond debts payment suspended for six months while several promotions were reversed, he said money saved from the losses to workers and cancellation of empowerment schemes should have been enough to pay workers entitlements, particularly as allocations payment was regular while there were no new capital projects being executed by the governor.
Stating that the governor should stop reeling out his debt and payment figures to the more intelligent Ekiti workers, Olatubosun said the governor’s antecedents had given him away as he tried to hoodwink the innocent workers.
“It is good that Ekiti people know the kind of governor they have. In one breath, he said he spends N1.4b to pay salary monthly. The next minute, he said it is N1.6b in the same broadcast, which gave him away, as usual, as a man playing games with the lives of Ekiti people. All these mathematical gymnastics are callous demonstration of breach of faith in government and the governed relations,” he said, adding:
“What is the governor doing with full monthly federal allocation to the state when the bond debt repayment has been suspended for six months? 300 members of Traffic Management Agency have been sent packing. 800 members of Volunteer Peace Corps have been relieved of their jobs.
“Social Security scheme for 20,000 old people receiving N5000 every month each has been cancelled. This is apart from the over 20,000 Youth Volunteers earning N10,000 monthly who have also been disengaged by Fayose. Many of the youth who were trained in various skills under the (Kayode) Fayemi administration by Odua Skills Acquisition Centre have been abandoned by Fayose while the programme has been replaced with a pedestrian concept of stomach infrastructure,” Olatubosun explained.
He also noted that many permanent secretaries had lost their jobs while allowances to traditional rulers had been cut, even as running grants to civil servants had also been cut to save costs, wondering why the governor should still be complaining of paucity of funds in the face of savings from these cancellations.
He added: “Teachers’ special allowances for rural postings and core subjects have been abolished while workers, including primary and secondary school teachers, who were promoted since April last year, had their promotions reversed.
“The security agencies are no longer well-funded, leading to the current armed robbery cases across the state. Streetlights are turned off at 10.00 pm on the excuse of the cost of fuel, thus paralysing night life and causing insecurity as well as putting in jeopardy late night business activities in the state capital,” he explained.
Olatubosun said the governor with a three-man cabinet should explain in a transparent manner how he is spending Ekiti money, including the N22b refund from the Federal Government and N2b Ecological Fund he later admitted collecting after two months of denial.
