Obaseki suspends council officials for lateness

• Edo to unveil technical education for graduates

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki yesterday suspended the Head of Service of Egor Local Council Area, Mrs Rachael Iriefo and other heads of department.The governor suspended the officials for resuming duties at 8.20 am when he paid an unscheduled visit to the council headquarters in Uselu, near Benin City.

He ordered that routine checks be conducted every day by 8:00am and 4:00pm to ascertain the workers’ resumption time.At the time of the governor’s visit, only 36 out of the 599 staff of the council had reported for duties.

He said: “The workers do not come to work, but at the end of the month their salaries would be almost N50million, beside the teachers’emolument. How can they manage the council if the head of service or any senior person is not at work?”

Obaseki also lamented that despite the fact that the council received N47million, their union leaders had protested that the government abandoned its obligations to them.He said the state did not owe the local councils because it had spent other monies to make up for their deficits.

The governor warned that if the council fails to generate enough money to pay their salaries, he would get managers to do the job.He also condemned the council’s dilapidating transport system, despite that they had received N107million in the last windfall.

Obaseki explained that his visit was prompted by the information he received at the Joint Allocation Committee meeting (JAAC) the previous day.According to him, he leant that the amount available after deductions and the internally generated revenue for this month was less than N1million, even though the salary bill gulped about N50million monthly.

“We hereby give this local council three months to become viable. They have to do everything they need to do to reduce cost and increase revenue,” he said.Meanwhile, opportunities for skill acquisition would soon be opened to graduates, as the state government yesterday promised to launch platforms on technical education for graduates.

Obaseki, who disclosed this at the Edo State Government House in Benin City, said it would make them to become independent employers of labour.He made the disclosure at an interactive session with the management team of the state branch of Seven-Up Bottling Company, led by the General Manager, Victor Oladele.The team commended Obaseki’s leadership, especially its investment-friendly policies in the state.