By Emmanuel Onwusoro
A Special Assistant On Labour to the Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, Barrister Kolawole Olaiya has assured Ekiti civil servants that their contributions will not be ignored by the in-coming government of Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji.
Barrister Olaiya in an interview with
Pinpointnews in his office in Ado-Ekiti, explained that though the outgoing government might not have met the avalanche of workers’ demands, but it tried within its available resources, especially the settlement of salary and pension arrears. He said the coming on board of the All Progressives Congress,APC,governor-elect, Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji,BAO, signposts a continuity agenda which will not compromise the social contract with the people of the State and Ekiti workers in particular.
The former Chairman,Trade Union Congress,TUC,Ekiti State Chapter, posited that his experience in industrial relations and labour laws has always come into play when negotiating workers’ welfare with the State government. He added that it now behoves the workers to embrace the incoming government and demonstrate the same commitment and support shown to the outgoing government of Dr John Kayode Fayemi who is bowing out after the completion of his second tenure.
Barrister Olaiya who remarked that without blowing his own trumpet or sounding immodest suggested that based on his pedigree as a career civil servant, union activist,labour leader and government’s Special Assistant On Labour, and by extension Adviser On Labour Matters, it would be congruent for a Ministry of Labour to be created by the incoming government, and he be elevated to the position of a Commissioner For Labour or Senior Special Assistant,SSA, On Labour Matters. He said his clamour for the establishment of such a Ministry is because labour is a veritable institution and very potent to the development of any society. This, he stressed will put him in a better stead to ensure that government rejigs and gives its industrial issues a human face.
The governor’s aide maintained that a credible government must be sincerely committed to the welfare of workers. According to him, this should equally entail the training and retraining of workers,pointing out that the incoming governor has promised not to neglect what will uplift the wellbeing of Ekiti workers. He used the platform to appreciate Ekiti workers for exercising their franchise that contributed to the emergence of Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji,BAO, as the new governor of the State, reiterating that the new government which will be inaugurated on October 16, 2022 will place the welfare of workers on the frontburner of its agenda.
