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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti
Former Secretary to the Ekiti State Government (SSG) under the first term administration of former Governor Segun Oni and erstwhile Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, Mr Dare Bejide, has said that former governor Oni did not sack any of the workers employed by the Niyi Adebayo and Ayo Fayose-led administrations before his, a clear departure from the policies of his successors.
Bejide, who stated this in an exclusive interview with the Ekiti Build Back Better (EBBB), an international pan-Ekiti movement campaigning for the election of Asiwaju Segun Oni, in the Saturday, June 18 governorship election, said his former boss, who he described as humane personified, human capital development expert and administrator par excellence, believed that the state’s revenue was quite sufficient to pay the monthly workers’ salaries and the pensioners’ entitlements, as well as grow the economy of the state if properly utilised.
According to a press release issued by Idowu Adelusi, the spokesman of the group in Ado Ekiti, at the weekend, Mr Bejide said the former governor, who is contesting on the ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the forthcoming election, employed additional 4,000 people into the service without any of them going through any godfather.
‘Direct employment of young people into the civil service took place. Over 4,000 new employments were made without going through any godfather,’ he said.
‘There were many vacancies because the civil servants were willing to retire because of the prospect of getting their gratuity within three months of retirement.
‘The government provided microcredit facilities to farmers, artisans and young graduates, introduced local content policy that compelled contractors to employ local people in their companies.
‘The government also collaborated with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) for skills acquisition for the youths and, thus, provided alternative means of employment.
‘The government also made farming more attractive by providing enabling facilities in the rural areas, thus, reducing rural-urban migration, youth unemployment and discouraging the youths engaging in nefarious activities which are prevalent now.
‘The state government also brought in experts to train the youths in sporting activities. Some of the youths later became national stars.
‘Segun Oni did not engage in the illegal sacking of workers, whether in the civil service, the tertiary institutions or the local government. He did not indiscriminately dissolve statutory boards; all the board members, particularly in the statutory boards, enjoyed their tenures without any inhibition.’
Bejide described Oni as a democrat who believes in the rule of law and not the rule of thumb like some former governors who almost turned the state upside down for their selfish reasons.
He called on the Ekiti people, the workers, pensioners, artisans, teachers, market women and men, students and traders to vote for Oni to become their governor for a better Ekiti State.
