Again, Dapo Abiodun blazes the trail, By Kayode Akinmade

Like in earlier occasions, different states have adopted Abiodun’s lead, with Lagos, and subsequently Rivers State, saying greater figures than what the Ogun helmsman introduced. However the reality can’t be disputed that it was Governor Abiodun who led the way in which in transcending the pay package deal introduced for Nigerian employees by the Federal Authorities, and there’s completely little doubt that Ogun employees will get much more if the state’s income profile spikes.

The Yoruba, one among black Africa’s most distinguished ethnic teams, know the worth of phrases and actions produced on the proper second. Preaching tact in coping with individuals, they are saying that it’s calm phrases that spring kolanuts from the pocket. And scoffing at empty rhetoric, they are saying that a lot phrases don’t fill a basket. If an individual is aware of each find out how to communicate and find out how to act appropriately, (s)he’s an Omoluabi, a properly behaved, culturally sound and first rate individual.

The Omoluabi, the cream of Yoruba character, are uniquely recognized by their constancy to their spoken phrase (ka-soro-ka-ba-be), what the Yoruba name the pleasure of an Omoluabi. In phrase and deed over the past half a decade in workplace, the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has demonstrated the core options of an Omoluabi, and it’s no coincidence that he has taken the lead wherever points of individuals’s consolation have been involved. There was numerous speak over the problem of palliatives final 12 months because the nation battled the rapid pains of the elimination of subsidy on petrol, however Dapo Abiodun it was who set the tone for nationwide response when he introduced the rapid implementation of a N10,000 allowance for employees and a discount in working days pending an settlement with Labour on what would represent the complete palliative package deal. Different state governments quickly adopted go well with.

In February, having surveyed the socioeconomic local weather within the state, he introduced a N5 billion intervention fund masking training, well being, employees’ deductions and meals palliatives to cushion the corollaries of the rising price of dwelling. That was a time state governments within the nation had been nonetheless speaking of what to do to ease the pains within the land. The Abiodun authorities offered a minimal of 5 train books for all 850,000 college students in Ogun public main and secondary faculties, one-time N10,000 training help grant for a minimum of 100,000 pupils in public main and secondary faculties within the state, an training grant of N50,000 every for all of the 27,600 indigent college students in tertiary establishments nationwide, insurance coverage well being cowl for over 70,000 beneficiaries; free pre-natal care, an extra N5,000 per start and free post-natal care in State Hospitals and Major Well being Care centres, and meals palliatives for about 300,000 households throughout the state.

In whole disbelief, shell-shocked college students in greater establishments posted particulars of the N50,000 credit score alerts on their telephones on social media. That they had thought they had been in for some long-drawn-out course of when their college authorities requested them to submit their account particulars.

That was not all: the federal government additionally rolled out a gas-powered public transport system, conceived lengthy earlier than the Federal Authorities’s subsidy elimination, with the state’s wifi-enabled buses transformed from PMS to gas-powered autos. The considering was that public buses would price a lot much less in the event that they had been CNG moderately than PMS-powered. That was not all: the governor and his workforce launched electrical motorbikes and tricycles all around the state. Additionally they launched subsidised meals markets to ease the pains of the populace. The web/information house is dotted with testimonies by okada riders and different transport employees celebrating their good fortunes beneath Abiodun’s CNG initiative.

Given this backdrop, it got here as no shock that it was Prince Dapo Abiodun who once more confirmed the way in which ahead for the states when he introduced N77,000 as the brand new minimal wage in Ogun State and ordered its rapid implementation. As a result of Governor Abiodun is a pacesetter who doesn’t like losing individuals’s time, negotiations with Labour had been swift. Coming from a enterprise and boardroom background, and as an financial realist, the governor knew that employees needed to have cash of their pockets to outlive, and he didn’t play video games with their feelings.

No sooner had the Federal Authorities introduced a brand new minimal wage than he gave agency assurances that his authorities could be the primary to pay it within the nation. What the employees didn’t know was that he was going to transcend the federal benchmark according to the core values of his ISEYA mantra and in demonstrating that his administration actually cares for the individuals. All of this was amply precedented, although: Abiodun had paid N33,000 as minimal wage when the Federal Authorities was paying N30,000 as minimal wage beneath ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.

The son of civil servants, Governor Abiodun actually is aware of what shabby therapy of employees can do to them and their households. Earlier than he bought into workplace, Ogun employees acquired their salaries not on the finish of the month however throughout the first or second week of the subsequent month. It was, nevertheless, no shock that when, upon assuming duties on the Oke Mosan Authorities Home on 29 Could, 2019, he found that employees had been but to obtain their salaries, he made preparations with a financial institution for rapid fee of the wages. He then pronounced that henceforth, Ogun employees had been to obtain their salaries newest by the twenty sixth of each month. A medley of worker-friendly insurance policies which have given the Gateway State Ogun State a pleasure of place amongst states within the nation adopted go well with. Immediate fee of salaries and pensions, promotions and coaching packages have all helped to extend the productiveness of Ogun employees. Abiodun truly got here into workplace absolutely ready to make an actual change within the lives of Ogun individuals, and the various battles he had confronted over time had toughened him up for the job.

Like in earlier occasions, different states have adopted Abiodun’s lead, with Lagos, and subsequently Rivers State, saying greater figures than what the Ogun helmsman introduced. However the reality can’t be disputed that it was Governor Abiodun who led the way in which in transcending the pay package deal introduced for Nigerian employees by the Federal Authorities, and there’s completely little doubt that Ogun employees will get much more if the state’s income profile spikes. Governor Abiodun’s mantra, Constructing our Future Collectively, means precisely what it says.

Kayode Akinmade is particular adviser on Media and Technique to Governor Dapo Abiodun.