Osun LGSC Chairman praises Oyetola on training, retraining of workers

By Richard Akintade, Osogbo

The Chairman, Local Government Service Commission (LGSC), Osun State, Elder Tunde Adedeji, has reiterated the efforts of Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s led administration towards training and retraining of local government workers.

Elder Adedeji,who also disclosed that the state government has paid workers their promotion arrears, said adequate welfare of the entire workers in the state is one of the priorities to Mr Governor.

Fielding questions from journalists in his office on Thursday, Elder Adedeji said the positive way Governor Oyetola is relating with the entire workers in the state is highly commendable as the relationship is very cordial and impressive.

He also said that qualified workers in the state had received their promotion arrears and cash backs.

Elder Adedeji noted that, “arrears of promotion and cash back have been done across the state and everyone who is qualified have received it”.

While speaking on training and retraining of workers in the local government, Elder Adedeji said, “it is a continuous exercise, saying it can be expanded and this would bring in the idea of international training. Before the COVID-19 broke out, we were going into international training for our workers but COVID-19 truncated our plans. We don’t have the fund of giving them international training now but there is a way we can go about it. We were looking at it but we have to suspend it because of the COVID-19.”

He also disclosed that outbreak of COVID-19 prevented some local government workers from embarking on an international training the government had earlier approved, stressing that the training would soon be carried out for optimum productivity of workers and having experience with their colleagues at international level.

According to him, “I had discussed with the governor and he was receptive to it. It will expose them (workers) more and give them the benefit of rubbing minds with international workers and environment.”

On alleged redundancy of local government staff due to lack of autonomy at the third tier of government, the commission boss workers don’t truncate duties adding that local councils in the state are effective and functional.

He said, “We just concluded a tour of all the local government areas in the state, the 69 councils. We went to them one after the other and you will be surprised the turn out we had. It’s not absolutely true that local government workers don’t go to work again. But in terms of attendance and compliance to work, I will give them more than 80 percent.”

Adedeji said the governor would have employed more workers at the local but for the financial constraints the state was battling.

“We have not even employed a single person. In the year between 2003 and 2010, a lot of people were employed maybe for political point. Its not that the governor doesn’t want to employ but the challenges he met on ground wouldn’t allow that. I am sure that by the special grace of God, the debts are being paid and all other issues addressed, I know the governor would want to look at the possibility of employment, not because of political reasons, but to have more people to aid better productivity.

“There is a lot of need for employment. For all our retired staff, we are doing skill acquisitions for them, skills training so that when they retire, they can do something for themselves,” he said.

Elder Adedeji however enjoined the enter people of the state to demonstrate their unalloyed support to Mr Governor come July 16.