The chairman of the Oyo State council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Kayode Martins, has described Governor Seyi Makinde as a God-sent man not just to Oyo State workers but to the people of the state as a whole.
Martins, who stated this during an interview with The People’s Verdict, premised his submission on the governor’s deliberate efforts to improve the lot of everyone in the state.
He said, “To us as workers, we call him a God-sent man. He has not failed. He has made a significant impact on the people of the state. He has a mind for the people in everything he does. He is a man who has a mind for the people he governs.”
Describing Makinde as a fair leader who abhors injustice, Martins said, “Immediately he came on board, the first thing he did was to reinstate all workers whom the past administrations wrongfully dismissed. Initially, he wanted to bring back only those who had been dismissed approximately five or six years before his administration. Still, he later changed his stance and pushed the deadline back to about 15 years, stating that whoever had been wrongly dismissed should be compensated or reinstated to the system. This shows he has a large heart, not only for workers but for the people of Oyo State. I see that in him all the time.”
Martins added that it was Makinde who resolved the long-standing issue of outstanding promotions for state civil servants.
His words: “I had the privilege of working with the past council members dating back to about two decades. We called on past administrations to address the issue of outstanding promotions for workers; we begged them, but they did not. It was Makinde who corrected that.”
He stated further, “The excuse governors usually give is that they cannot be paying workers’ salaries while embarking on projects. So, governors usually face budget cuts at the expense of their salaries. But with Makinde, the story is different; he is taking the two together, executing projects, and paying workers’ salaries. We appreciate his Midas touch.”
Buttressing his point, Comrade Martins said, “During the first term of Governor Makinde, he recruited 5,200 teaching and non-teaching staff at a go. What we normally experience during the second term of governors is that they bark at you, and they won’t listen to the people. But Makinde promised that that would not be the situation. He came on board, and he employed 15,000 teachers and 5,000 health workers during the second term. He has also embarked on many projects.”
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