By Olawale Jokotoye
ABEOKUTA – Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun on Thursday assured that he would neither slash workers’ salaries nor reverse the recently signed minimum wage in the state inspite of the harsh economic realities in the country.
Abiodun gave the assurance in Abeokuta during the breaking of the fast (Iftar) with the leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abeokuta.
The governor stated that his administration would continue to be creative in its bid to make the state economically viable and financially strong to be able to perform its responsibilities to the citizens.
“ I was watching on television where I saw one of my brother governors say that his state might have to reverse on the minimum wage.
“We are very creative on the issue of financing and I want to assure you that Ogun will not reverse on minimum wage,” he said.
The governor also assured that the local government polls scheduled to hold on July 24 across the state would be free and fair to all.
“The election will not be skewed in favour of the rullng APC.
“We will not share political positions among men and women who are party faithfuls during the elections, but promote equal participation.
“We must be consistent and show that we have learnt from other people’s lessons and that are a product of democracy.
“We have done primaries when somebody else did not want primaries and subjected ourselves to the party process and we evolved through that process which was later confirmed by the general elections despite all odds.
“Let us make sure that whatever process we adopt is democratic. We must be seen as true progressive democrats.
“When it comes to a process like this, what we need to do is to encourage our members to come forward and participate.
“We will vote for them, but we are not going to share it and say because they are our members, they should take it on platter of gold.
“No, that will be undemocratic. We are not going to do that because it will be unfair,” he said.
Speaking on security, Abiodun disclosed that his administration would soon re-launch the OPMESA, which according to him, has recently been resuscitated after years of neglect by the immediate past administration.
He added that any act of insecurity would be viewed as a sabotage against its government’s plans to grow the economy of the state.
“We are taking the issue of security very seriously and be assured that we are doing everything humanly possible on this because Ogun is the industrial hub of Nigeria.
“Any act of insecurity is a sabotage against our plans to make our state very viable economically and we are going to fight it with everything at our disposal.
“OPMESA has gone for so many years because the previous administration did not take it very seriously, so, the federal government withdrew it.
“But I went after that initiative and I got the Chief of Army Staff to finally approve it because like I said to him, I don’t know of other states, but my state, I cannot afford insecurity,” he said.
While restating his administration’s commitment to make the state safe for the residents, Abiodun urged he people of the state to be prayerful and be observant of their environment, saying that “security agents are as good as the intelligence they gathered”.
Earlier in his remarks, the APC Caretaker Committee Chairman in Ogun, Mr Yemi Sanusi, commended Abiodun for embarking on massive road rehabilitation and re-construction across the state.
He also lauded him for attracting more members into the party, particularly, bigwigs from other political parties.
Two former deputy governors of the state,
Mr Segun Adesegun and Sen. Adegbenga Kaka, who also attended the event, commended the governor for his effort at making the state more attractive for investors.
Adewunmi Onanuga, a lawmaker, representing Remo Constituency at the House of Representatives, commended the governor for his developmental agenda in the state.
She, however, called on the governor to give women more opportunities to represent their people at the grassroots.
(NAN)
