Governor Abiola Ajimobi has ordered the immediate release of the leader of the splinter group of the labour union in the state, Adebayo Akande, who was detained by the police for breach of the peace.
Akande tendered an unreserved apology to the state governor in his office immediately after his release.
Ajimobi, who was outside the state during the labour protest by some workers, which began on Monday, received in audience the leader of the splinter labour group and other members after his release, as well as other members of the Nigeria Labour Congress, who apologised to the governor for the embarrassment caused government by the labour leader.
Confirming the meeting between Akande and Ajimobi, the governor’s Special Adviser (Media), Dr. Festus Adedayo, said that Akande wrote the letter after the governor complained of being unfairly treated by the rump of labour leaders after all he had done for workers in the last 10 months that were unprecedented in the history of government in Oyo State.
According to Adedayo, Ajimobi, at the meeting, accused the splinter group of being used by politicians.
He gave the statistics of the income and expenditure of the state in which government spends about 90 per cent of its total earning on payment of workers’ salaries, meaning that what is left could not adequately bring government’s envisaged development to the state.
Adedayo said in the statement: “Aside this, Governor Ajimobi catalogued all he had done for workers in the state in the last ten months which ranged from increase in their salaries which cost the state about N700 million, full payment of their 13th month salary which is unprecedented in the history of the state, payment of their salaries on the 25th of every month, training of workers of various cadres and general provision of habitable offices for them.”
The governor, who acknowledged that there were errors in the computation of the salary scale which angered the workers, told the labour leaders that of the 210 steps that were computed in the salary table, if about a fraction of the table had some human errors, it was not enough for the splinter union leaders to head for the streets without seeking audience with the state government for rectification of the errors.
Akande acknowledged that he and members of the caretaker committee did not have enough information about the efforts of government on the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage.
In the letter of apology Akande wrote to the governor in his own handwriting, and on behalf of other caretaker members, he stated: “With respect and humility, I, Chief Bayo Akande, on behalf of all other caretaker committee (members) tender our unreserved apology to you on the on-going log-jam among the workers of Oyo State.
“We shall be highly appreciative if Your Excellency will be gracious to grant our humble appeal.”
Adedayo said that after the apology, Ajimobi promised that government would address all the errors in the wage table, which angered the protesting workers in the first place, maintaining that his was a government that lays store by accountability and openness.
The governor’s aide noted that after the meeting, which he said ended on a cordial note, that Ajimobi agreed to address the state workers on a large scale to communicate to them the human error of calculation that led to the protest of the workers.