Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, has constituted a committee to negotiate with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) on the N30,000 national minimum wage.
He made this known during a live quarterly interactive session he held with the people of the state at the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS), Orita-Bashorun, Ibadan, on Saturday, which was also transmitted live by many radio stations in the state.
According to Makinde, the committee was constituted on Friday and members of the committee have started engagement with the labour unions, saying his administration has been very open with the workers on how much revenues the state has been getting from the Federal Allocation and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), which, he said, accounted for the peace between the government and labour unions in the state.
The governor explained that payment of salaries has been designated as the first-line charge from money accrued to the state and that the salaries would not be paid alone without his administration delivering good governance to the people and ensure development in the state.
On the civil servants that were confirmed to have been unjustly sacked by the former administration in the state, Makinde stated that “the Executive Council of the state had given an approval that those that were sacked illegally should be restored to their positions. I am sure the Head of Service is listening. I know that the process is on. All the necessary documentation is being done presently. As soon as they are through with the documentation, they will be recalled.”
The governor stated that his administration had made a provision of N300million in the 2020 budget for the 10 local governments in Oke-Ogun political division of the state to access and watch BCOS television clearly, adding that if the project was not completed by the first quarter of 2020, it would be completed by the second quarter.
Makinde said his administration would explore the agricultural sector to expand economy of the state, saying when his administration awarded total reconstruction of Moniya – Iseyin Road, “it is agriculture that we have in mind. We have written to the Federal Government that they should give us approval to reconstructive Iseyin-Oyo Road. If we can finish Iseyin-Oyo Road and the Federal Government also completes Oyo to Ogbomoso, there will be a seamless link among all the places that we have our farmland.
“Also, we now have approval of the Oyo State House of Assembly that our farm settlements should be converted to farm estates. We started with the ones in Akufo and Eruwa. When we finish the two, we will move to the remaining ones at Fashola, Iresa-Adu, and so on.
“You are aware that I went to court even as governor-elect to prevent them from spending N7.6billion meant for agriculture. I am sure that the money will be available early in the New Year so that we can spend the money on the conversion from farm settlements to farm estates. We have not accessed the money because the people that were in charge during the last administration also went to court, claiming they had spent certain amount on the process. But I believe that they would not have their way.
“Once all the encumbrances are removed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, we will be able to access the money. There are interests all over the world for investors to come and join us in Oyo State in agri-business.”
Responding to a question on solid waste management, the governor assured that by the first quarter of 2020, a new solid waste architecture would be put in place, adding that the former contractor that handled the project, West African Energy, did not have the capacity and technical know-how to handle the solid waste in the state.
He contended that there exists a huge gap between how much that is needed to manage solid waste in Ibadan and how much was on the paper by the former administration, hence the need for the new solid waste management architecture