Ekiti Workers Petition Assembly over N264m Grant Allegedly Received From Fayose By Labour

Ayodele Fayose

Workers in Ekiti State have petitioned the state House of Assembly seeking a  probe into the alleged release of N6m  monthly amounting to about N264m  to labour leaders in the state by former Governor Ayodele Fayose.

In the petition dated November 23, 2018, the workers, under the aegis of Ekiti Workers Rescue Team, alleged that the N6m  monthly, which they stated as N5m  monthly to the Nigeria Labour Congress and N1m  monthly to the Trade Union Congress, did not reflect in the labour unions’ bank accounts.

The petition signed by EWRT Chairman, Mr Ojo Ayodeji,  and Secretary, Mr W.A. Ajayi,  which was addressed to the House Committee Chairman on Public Accounts, Gboyega Aribisogan, alleged that “the wicked conspiracy and unholy alliance between Fayose and the labour leaders was  the reason why they could not fight for workers’ rights during the last administration”.

It reads,  “One would have scored the government that approved the release of this magnitude of public funds to industrial unions high and termed it as workers’ friendly if the purpose is for the betterment of the entire workforce.

“But in contrary, it was meant for individual pockets of about six people. There was no single record of physical projects embarked upon by these labour merchants for the period of about four years.

“We are protesting and reporting officially to this highly esteemed committee to wade in by investigating and ensuring justice while the perpetrators refund the money to the last penny to the coffers of Ekiti State for the betterment of the public in general and its workforce in particular.”

An Auditor General’s Report for the year ended,  December 31,  2017,  attached to the petition showed that the TUC received N1m  monthly and the NLC got N5m  monthly under Fayose as “running grants.”

But the state chairman of the NLC, Ade Adesanmi, who denied collecting any money from the Fayose administration, said unionism was not under the jurisdiction of the House of Assembly.

He said,  “They (petitioners) are just chasing shadows, they are a group of former labour leaders who served out their terms and nobody chased them out of office.

“They had raised several allegations including the claim that I received N15m  for my father’s burial. All what they are saying now is not true.

“You can do your findings from the Office of Establishment under which supervises labour matters.”