Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has assured the people of the state that all ongoing road projects in every part of the state would be completed as scheduled.
Fayemi who gave the assurance on Saturday while answering questions during his monthly media chat, “Meet Your Governor”, disclosed that he
has extracted commitment from some contractors to work at nights to ensure that projects are delivered to time.
The governor also emphasized that his administration has never deducted from allocation going to the local councils in the state. He said councils get what is due to them from the Federation Account.
The Ekiti helmsman who was commended by callers on the programme for the various populist programmes of his administration revealed that some of the road projects are almost ready for commissioning.
He promised that all communities in the state would be touched in road construction and other capital projects to stimulate socio-economic activities in the state.
Reacting to some inconvenience being faced by residents of Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, where massive road construction is going on, Fayemi pleaded for patience and understanding.While stressing that “there can be no gain without pain”, Fayemi expressed confidence that everybody in the state will laugh last by the time the projects are completed.
Speaking on the Operation Renovate All Schools in Ekiti (ORASE) policy, the governor expressed regret about the sorry state of many public schools in the state. Fayemi who noted that 100 out of 183 secondary schools in the state would benefit from the first phase of the programme argued that his administration is ready to ensure conducive environment for learning in public schools.
He disclosed further that his administration has ordered for 40,000 units of school furniture for onward distribution to public secondary schools immediately the renovation is completed during the long holiday period.
Reacting to a question on the staff audit going on in the state local government system, Fayemi said the exercise became necessary to sanitize the system and rid it of ghost workers and not to retrench genuine workers.
The governor revealed that some council workers have been found to be drawing salaries from two to three places noting that biometric registration of staff was aimed at stopping the rot.
He said, “We want to nip in the bud things that negatively affect genuine council workers. Some people believe that they just have to collect salaries from the local government without doing anything.
“Yes, we are doing the audit in the interest of Ekiti people. We need to know the legitimate local government staff and if we find you to be fake, we will ask you in your own interest to leave the system.”
“I have been to an office in the local government where I found thirty people doing what two people can do. There are other places we can put them because I have asked LG chairmen to cultivate 1,000 hectares of land each. It is not about retrenchment, the agenda is not to retrench anybody but to make them more useful and contribute meaningfully to the system.”
On the demand of the state judiciary workers for the implementation of special salary scale, Fayemi pleaded for understanding given the shortfall of allocation from the Federation Account.
He added, “There is nothing that suggests that the situation will not improve in the future when the financial situation of the state improves.
“We want the (judiciary) workers to bear with us because what the state earns is not hidden and what we pay is not hidden but I feel it is fair to spread the wealth.
“We are willing to reconsider it when the situation improves but I want to make it abundantly clear that it is the minimum wage we can offer for now.”
Last modified: August 5, 2012
