The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, on Wednesday said he has recruited over 5,000 workers into the state civil service in the past seven years of his twin-administrations.
Obaseki who disclosed this while delivering his goodwill message to the workers in the state to mark the 2024 Workers’ Day celebration in Benin, the Edo State capital.
He said he has been able to turn the fortune of the state and its worker around by keeping to his electioneering promises.
“One of the things I promised in 2016 that I was going to build our institution for governance and today, we can proudly say that workers have had means to achieve the modest institutional reform which we have now achieved in Edo State.
“With your support, we have been able to recruit over 5,000 new workers into the Edo State Civil Service based on merit and no longer on favouritism as it used to be.
“Now, you don’t have to know anybody to get work in government in Edo, you just need to know something.
“You can celebrate that we now have the best public service training academy in West Africa. And this academy, John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOSPA) has trained over 10,000 workers who participated enthusiastically in our trainings.
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“I have been amazed how workers in Edo State have embraced and adopted technology and how they have continued to use the application to rebuild the way we do things in government,” Obaseki said.
The governor commended the cordial relationship that has existed between his administration and the Organised Labour (workers) in the state.
Obaseki maintained that the labour has not gone on strike except the ones called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) which the organised labour according to him has to comply with.
He said his recent increment in the workers salary is a demonstrations to his commitment to their welfare, adding that he has already assured workers in Edo that if the Federal Government increases its allocations to the state, he will also reflect it by increasing their salary too.
He thanked the organised labour for their cooperation over the years, just as he urged them to sustain same.
On his part, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Odion Olaye, thanked the state governor for increasing the workers salary and building them a befitting edifice in the state.
He said that the workers in the state will ever be grateful to the governor for providing a conducive working environment for workers in the state to thrive.