By Banji Ayoola
Ondo State Deputy Governor and candidate of Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, Hon Agboola Ajayi has promised prompt payment of pension and gratuity if elected as the governor of the state.
Spokesman of his campaign organisation, Mr Babatope Okeowo said in a statement that he spoke at Ikare-Akoko in Akoko Northeast Local Government when some senior citizens and pensioners accosted him during his campaign tour, noting that he would not be part of any system where the elderly would be neglected.
The Deputy Governor who lamented the pitiable situation of those who have served the state in their youth but are now neglected, said there will also be old people’s home in each of the 18 local governments if given the opportunity to rule the State.
These homes, he said would take care of the aged in the state and make sure their old age is enjoyable.
His words “We won’t abandon our elders like the previous administration. We will take care of you. We will make sure you don’t suffer in your old age.”
Ajayi also condemned the delay in payment of workers’ salaries and deductions in the state.
He noted that from Permanent secretaries to the least workers in the state, the workforce should not be subjected to any form of torture before receiving their salaries and deductions.
The Deputy Governor noted that each time he acted as the governor of the state when Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu was not around, he always paid workers salaries promptly.
Assuring workers in the state, the ZLP candidate said if elected governor of the state on October 10, 2020, he would ensure that workers in the state civil service receive their salaries and deductions as and when due.
He lamented that workers who joined various cooperative societies in different ministries, departments and agencies could not access loans from the societies because their deductions were not remitted to the accounts of the societies by the state government.
The deputy governor recalled a time when workers were owed over N3.6 billion un-remitted deductions, adding that such development undermined the purpose of workers’ engagement in cooperative societies.
He charged workers in the state to set themselves free through the ballot from the slave camp the Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu-led administration had allegedly subjected them to by withholding their deductions unnecessarily.
