OGUN GUBER: APC CANDIDATE, PRINCE DAPO ABIODUN PRESENTS 12-POINT AGENDA TO OGUN STATE WORKERS

While the incumbent of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun is currently having a running battle with labour leaders in the State over backlog of unpaid salaries, non-remittance of pension and cooperative deductions and other anti-labour policies, the APC governorship candidate for Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun has presented a 12-point agenda to the leadership of NLC in the State.

Abiodun’s pact with labour, which many has adjudged as a clear demonstration of his understanding of the economy and labour matters in a letter personally signed by the APC candidate and addressed to the Chairman, Nigerian Labour Congress, Ogun State.

In the letter, he said, ‘There is no gainsaying that ‘labour creates wealth’. In all humility, as a successful entrepreneur, I can attest from personal experience that labour is not only an important factor of production, it is actually the heart of production’.

The letter reads further, ‘I am a staunch believer in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, especially all the four sections of Article 23, which are encapsulated in section one that, ‘Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable condition of work’.

Below are the 12-point agenda presented to Ogun State workers by the PAC candidate;

1.      Clearing of backlog of salaries, cooperatives dues and deductions by the outgoing government and its predecessors.

2.      Creation of Ministry of Labour and Productivity to proactively and effectively monitor workers’ welfare and efficiency

3.      Appointment of quality labour leaders into the Cabinet

4.      Acquisition of landed property along Abeokuta-Kobape road for the construction of Labour Estate

5.      Restructuring of the moribund Contributory Pension Scheme and inauguration of State and Local Government Pension Board

6.      Institutionalization of the Government-Labour Consultative Forum that will meet quarterly as a general feedback forum to improve Government-Labour relationship

7.      Replacement of Promotion Examination with Efficiency Promotion Training

8.      Appointment of Teachers to apex positions to place them at par with their  public service counterparts

9.      Granting of full autonomy to the Local Government and Inclusion of Labour Leaders into the Cabinet at the Local Government levels

10. Annual Government Grants to the Workers’ Cooperatives

11. Infrastructural support to the Labour unions at State and Local government levels, especially in the area of modern Information Technology (ICT)

12. Per Review Exchanges  between Ogun State Labour Leaders and National / International Organisations.

It is instructive to note that this is the first strategic pact by any of the governorship candidates from any political party in Ogun State.