The Ogun State Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Akeem Ambali, has said the union rejects the decision of the panel that recommended the sacking of six civil servants in the state, including an English Language teacher, Mr. Jolaolu Adegbenro. The NLC, therefore, urged the state Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, to order a retrial of the sacked workers. He disclosed this to our correspondent during a telephone interview on Wednesday in Abeokuta. Ambali said the union did not have confidence in that panel and had demanded that another panel should be constituted to retry the sacked workers. He said this was part of the demands he made when he visited the Speaker, Suraj Adekunbi and members of the Ogun State House of Assembly on Tuesday. He said, “The state NLC has expressed its lack of confidence in the panel that tried the English Language teacher and other five civil servants in the state over an alleged offensive comprehension examination paper.

We demanded that the state should constitute another panel to retry those involved.” Ambali, who was accompanied to the House by other members of the union, also stressed the need for the government to clear the outstanding workers’ cooperative deductions. He said, “The government had earlier promised to pay all deductions to workers
by the end of July but it did not fulfil the promise. There is still that of contributory pension and others. The government needs to enter into negotiation with NLC on how to resolve all this.” The Speaker said the present administration was committed to promoting workers’ welfare and fulfil electoral promises made to the people despite dwindling resources from the Federation Account. Adekunbi pleaded with the NLC to be patient with the government, explaining that the issue of late payment of workers’ cooperative deductions and other allowances was not peculiar to Ogun State alone but a national challenge.