Okowa inaugurates 700-capacity hostel at NYSC camp
Delta State Executive Council (Exco) has approved the Harmonised Rights of Pensioners, to ensure that retirees from Delta Civil Service live comfortably.
It also approved more than N800 million as compensation for the land that would host Kwale Industrial Park and the streamlining of the Ministry of Youths Development’s activities of among others.
This was disclosed by the Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, who was with his youth development counterpart, Mr. Ifeanyi Egwuyenga, in a post-Exco news briefing in Asaba.He said, “To address the issue of accrued rights of pensioners, Governor Okowa set up a committee and the committee commenced work as far back as October 2015.
“At a point, we lost hope and thought the issue will not be dealt with during this administration; but today, the State Executive Council has approved the harmonisation of accrued rights of pensioners In this state.”He added that the council appreciated Ndokwa people who made their land available to the Okowa’s administration for speedy development of the state.
“We are aware that to ensure the development of Kwale Industrial Park, there was a road show in China, which has started attracting investors and, at the Exco meeting today the people were commended for agreeing to part with their land for development activities to take place.
“Exco approved the sum of N800 million as compensation for the land, which measures more than 1,000 hectares and we are confident that the multiplier benefits of having the Kwale Industrial Park is enormous. The area is strategically located for investors to have quick returns on their investments,” he said.
According to him, chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Goodluck Oforbruku; and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Martins Bolum, were at the Exco meeting over the pension issue.
The commissioner also disclosed government’s approval of the Abah-Unor stool in Aniocha South Council.Oforbruku, while expressing gratitude to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for being workers-friendly, said the governor had earned a position in the Workers Hall of Fame and would be inducted on May 1.
“In other words, Delta State government will use the N18,000 minimum wage to calculate the pension entitlement of retirees in the state. This means that those who retired as far back as 2011, instead of the N7,500 minimum wage that was used to calculate their entitlement, government has approved that the N18,000 minimum wage be used.
“That has been our struggle and that is what the State Executive Council just approved today. It might interest you to note that the Contributory Pension Law in the state says that when an officer retires, he should go home with at least 50 per cent of his last salary, but when the N7,500 minimum wage was being used, officers were going home with 15 to 30 per cent of their last salary.
“So, government has approved that we implement what is in the law and it will cost the state government a whopping N37 billion from March 2011 to December 2019.”
Meanwhile Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has inaugurated a 720-capacity hostel for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members at the Permanent Orientation Camp in Issele-Uku, while assuring NYSC authorities of the state government’s continued support to the scheme.The governor, who recalled the poor state of the camp when he visited in 2018, expressed delight that the place had begun to wear a look befitting a place where corps members spent time before being deployed to their places primary assignment (PLAs).
Okowa, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, asserted, “This is a dream come true and we thank God that we are witnessing this great transformation of the orientation camp. As a government, I believe that we should improve on the facilities that we have in this orientation camp as we are collaborating with the Federal Government in different ways. Just few days ago, on Monday, a Court of Appeal was inaugurated in Asaba. I am happy that we have the Court of Appeal and it has been described as, apparently, one of the best in the country.”
In his remarks, Director-General of NYSC, Brig-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, represented by Steve Ehoda-Adi, thanked the governor for his numerous contributions to the growth of the scheme.South South Area Coordinator of NYSC, Mr. Omotade Omotade, said, “For the records, no administration since the inception of our dear state in October 1991 has made this level of huge investment and commitment to this camp and to the NYSC in Delta.”
