The Ogun State Government has refuted the allegations by the Presidential Campaign Organisation (PCO) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that it was planning to reduce the size of its work force, if Governor Ibikunle Amosun is re-elected next month.
In a press statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the government described the allegations as false.
It further stated that, not only was there any plan to retrench workers, but a fresh recruitment exercise was at an advanced stage.
“We have no reason to reduce the size of the work force because the workers remain an integral part of the successful pursuit of our mission to rebuild Ogun State. Indeed, our assessments have indicated need for additional personnel in key areas. They have contributed to the visible developments in our state.”
“That is why despite the fact that the immediate past government defaulted on its salary wage bill which was about 4billion naira just before the advent of our administration, we have successfully coped with increase in total public sector wage bill to N6.2 billion a month and we have paid the workers up to date”
“Again, we have not only cleared the backlog of salaries and deductions inherited from the last PDP administration, we have also paid 42 months deductions without any hitch. We now have an arrangement with workers on how to pay the outstanding ones and that was one of the agreements we reached with the workers during our last interactive session with them”, the Government stated.
It was also stated that the present administration in Ogun State is worker friendly, and that is why it has recruited over 20,000 workers into various sections of the public service in the last three and half years.
The government however assured the workers that the Amosun administration will continue to protect their interests by giving them their dues and the size of service that would continue to grow, so that the state can cope with the challenges from its emerging modern economy.
The Government further advised the people to ignore the falsehood being dished out by the opposition party.
