The Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has reinstated
about 1,000 local government workers his government sacked
last year.
The governor said he had also waived the outcome of the last
promotion examination conducted for workers in the state.
The 1,000 workers were laid off because the Ondo State
government said it discovered that their employment was
illegal.
A statement by the state’s Commissioner for Information,
Kayode Akinmade, on Thursday indicated that the workers,
about 50 in each of the 18 local government areas in the
state, had been reinstated and the irregularities in their
employment process corrected.
The statement added that Mimiko had approved promotion of
every worker that was due for promotion, irrespective of their
performance in the promotional examination already
conducted.
The statement read, “The state government has re -
absorbed and properly employed about 1,000 local
government workers identified to have been illegally employed
during the last screening exercise in the state.
“About 50 workers from each of the 18 local government
areas in the state were discovered during the last screening
exercise to have been employed illegally and were
consequently laid off.
“Governor Olusegun Mimiko has however graciously ordered
the re-instatement of the affected workers and their
employment perfected. The governor has also ordered the
promotion of workers due for promotion to the next level of
their career without recourse to the result of the promotional
examination earlier conducted for the same purpose.”
The information commissioner further said that the state
government had decided to commence preparation for the
conduct of local government election in the state “as soon as
the state assembly election is done with on Saturday.”
The Mimiko’s administration had in 2014 embarked on a staff
audit during which the government said it discovered that the
councils had been engaged in illegal recruitment of workers.
The state government also said salaries were being paid to
non-existent workers.
In the build-up to the 2015 general elections, Mimiko had
promised that elections would be conducted to the 18 local
councils in the state after the general polls.