Date: 2017-02-01

Sequel to the recession ongoing across the country with attendant toll in the state, Ifelodun Local Government council, has decided to lay-off fifty one (51) casual staff that were initially employed by the past council bosses. National Pilot learnt on Sunday.

Speaking on the issue, the Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) chairman of the council, Alhaji Fatai Labaka stressed that the council can no longer cope with the payment of their salaries.

He also noted that plans to lay those causal staff off is 'immediate' saying the council is greatly financially incapacitated due to the dwindling allocations that come into the council.

According to him, his predecessors employed the casual workers when the council economic strength was buoyant, adding that there is now urgent need to relieve them of their duties in order to salvage the council from accumulating backlogs of salaries.

"We can no longer pay their salaries because we don't have the money; that is the truth, it is an issue for us here for some time, yet, we cannot fight it through due to the kind of allocation that comes into the council.

"I've not been able to pay permanent staff satisfactorily not to talk of casual workers; I want to be able to focus more on them.

"Our predecessors employed to that capacity maybe because there was enough resources to face it then. Where is the money to pay them now?" Labaka asked.

Also, lending voice to the issue is the Director of Personnel Manager (DPM), Ifelodun, Alhaji Saka Dauda who stated that there are two categories of causal workers in the council saying the first are 51 in number while the second is 35.

According to him, the council has decided to retain the later owing to the sensitivity of their roles in the council, adding that they are the security guards that watch over the council.

"Because of financial constraints, we can't absorbed those cleaners, office messengers and others again that constitute the first set of 51 casual workers, and on the other hand, the second set are 35 and they are the security guards that watch over the council, due to the sensitivity of the duties, we can't afford to lay them off, so we plan to retain them. Also, there is plan to recall those 51 later when things get better, everyone should understand that this is not one person making, it's purely the state of our economy that influence our actions""Saka added.

Meanwhile, the representative of Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), among TIC members in Kwara state, Alhaji Isiaka Danmairomu denied knowledge of plans to lay-off causal workers in the said local governments of the state. He said "I'm not aware of that".