Signage
* Omo-Agege promises 13th month salary
By Jon Egie
There was anticlimax to the vote buying strategy of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who credited the accounts of every civil servant in Delta State with the sum of ten thousand naira to vote for his surrogate, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori during the March 11, governorship election which has been rescheduled to hold this weekend, Saturday, March 18.
At an interactive session with civil servants in Delta State, Monday, March 13, in Asaba, the civil servants in a 180 degrees turn around, gave their full support and mandate to Deputy Senate President and Delta APC Governorship candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege ahead of the March 18, rescheduled governorship election for his election as governor of Delta State.
In their elation and as token of their assurance for Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s support on the Election Day, the workers raised a song in harmony with the popular Christian faith declaration which lyrics say, they have decided to follow Jesus, with the rephrase, no turning back.
“Ten thousand naira is for Agege victory,
Ten thousand naira is for Agege victory,
Ten thousand naira is for Agege victory,
No turning back,
No turning back.”
The civil servants sang with enthusiasm.
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege had during the interactive session assured the workers of remedying all the welfare assaults and deprivations Governor Okowa had exposed them to for the past eight years.
Responding to itching issues raised by the civil servants during the meeting, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege commited to paying all the promotion arrears denied them by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, in six months of his inauguration as governor.
“We will clear all the arrears, those entitled will be paid in due time” he assured.
Speaking on the issue of housing, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege said he was aware of the predicament of workers in the State and reassured the civil servants that ” as part of my EDGE Agenda, we are going to embark on mass housing scheme for civil servants in this city.”
Touching on complaint by staffs of Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-uku, whom Governor Okowa deducted 10 percent of their salaries for no justifiable reason, he frowned at the policy and assured that obnoxious action by the Okowa administration will be stopped and the arrears of the deductions refunded to the workers.
He also promised to look into the issue of deductions of health insurance scheme whereas, health services were not provided for the workers and yet money was deducted from their salaries, saying the issue will be addressed.
More striking, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege told the civil servants that rather than tip them off with a paltry sum of ten thousand naira to solicit their support for him on the March 18, Election Day, he promised to pay the civil servants 13th month salary to enable them enjoy the yuletide to the full every year.
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege however sought the permission of the civil servants to cooperate with him in the introduction and implementation of a social security scheme for the aged who can really no longer care for themselves.
“We will sit with the leadership of workers to determine what should be done to our old people as is applicable in the United States and in United Kingdom. I don’t think that would be too much to ask” he said.
Dueling on the vexatious issue of payment of gratuities to retirees, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege reiterated his earlier promise to clear all outstanding gratuities and pensions within six months of his inauguration as governor and assured that when the table was cleared, he would sit with stakeholders to determine which pension scheme they would chose to operate, whether the old or new, adding, ” What is important is that you are paid when you retire.”
Talking on Sports, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege said there was nobody who would want Delta State not occupy the number one position in Sports in the country.
“The only thing we will do is to employ our local talents, it is not good to engage talents from outside when we can groom our own. We will make sure that Delta State remain number one in sports.” Senator Omo-Agege said.
Earlier on, the leader of the civil servants, Mr Ijaiye, had complained that for the past eight years, since 2015, when he took over as governor, their promotion arrears had been denied them by outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
They also requested Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s intervention in the deductions from their salaries in lieu of housing scheme without hope of a house since most of the workers really have no house of their own.
“We request that you look into the issue of housing allowances as most of the civil servants have no home of their own. It is our prayer that as you emerge governor of Delta State, something will be done about this” he said.
They also used the opportunity to request for a 13th month pay so that they could enjoy yuletide with their families.
Meanwhile, sources close to the civil servants said the workers were waiting for a second tranche of the bribe money as the first one posted to their accounts expired with the initial Election Day, March 11 and needed to be renewed for the March 18 rescheduled day of the election.
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