Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo, on Monday, inaugurated an 11-man committee to look into demands of the labour unions in the wake of the removal of fuel subsidy, that includes review of salary of workers.
The committee named “Adhoc Inter-ministerial Committee on the harmonisation of the various demands by the Labour unions in Oyo” is expected to submit its report in four weeks.
The committee is coming against the backdrop of the federal government agreeing with organised labour to an N35,000 provisional wage award for all treasury-paid federal government workers for six months, with states mandated to work out their own modalities.
The organised labour in Oyo State had last week sought the audience of the governor on a wage award to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on the people, workers and the masses of the State.
The committee inaugurated by Governor Makinde is headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Olanike Adeyemo.
Some other members of the committee are the Head of Service, Olubunmi Oni; commissioners for finance, establishment and training, justice; Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Kayode Martins; his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Mr Bosun Olabiyi; Chairman, Public Service Joint Negotiating Council, Olaonipekun Oluwaseun.
Inaugurating the committee, Governor Makinde urged the government team on the committee to be open and transparent, just as he appealed to the labour team to show understanding in their demands such that other sectors of the state do not suffer neglect.
He also thanked the workers for reciprocating the government’s kind gestures in attending to their welfare with cooperation.
He said such allowed the government to focus on delivering on its mandate to the people.
He reiterated his demand for devolution of powers and resources to states such that states could better attend to their affairs.
Makinde said: “Let me thank the labour leaders for coming to the round table. I am optimistic that we will make homegrown solutions to the demands of the labour union in the State.
“I know you have pressure from your national leadership but our state is dear to us. The implementation and well-being of the people can only be addressed at the state level.
“Please, on the part of the labour, don’t say we have this, let us eat everything in one swoop; no, we have other things to do. If we continue to lag behind in infrastructure, then it will become more and more difficult to expand our economy, increase our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and win ourselves away from over-reliance on federal allocation.
“Please I want to solicit for your understanding, and on the part of government, we must be completely open because when we find a solution that both sides are comfortable with, that is fair to everybody, then it is something that will endure and be sustainable.”
Speaking, the Oyo State NLC Chairman, Mr Kayode Martins expressed optimism that the committee will work in the best interest of the workers and citizens of the State.
He said: “We would like to have the report in good time. You can see when the governor suggested six weeks for the committee to report, you saw that I had to say that was too long a time. The survey is already on ground. We will do our best to make sure we arrive at a conclusion in the very short term.
“And we will make sure that we consider the neighbouring states so that we don’t end up shooting ourselves in the foot. We may have to endure some patience.
“The major part of our demands is the wage award to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on the people, the workers and the masses.
“Workers today find it very difficult to report to their duty post, so something has to be done in good time. People are hungry and we have to do something as quickly as possible.
“Some say N35,000 minimum wage but we are saying, we are the pacesetter state, hopefully we can do more. And when we get there, we will talk about it. We are very optimistic that something positive will come out of this committee.”
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