Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Osun State have been directed to implement, with immediate effect, the report of the panel that recommended sacking of workers who gained employment with forged certificates.
According to a statement by the state’s Head of Service, D. Festus Oyebade, the immediate past government of the state led by Rauf Aregbesola engaged a firm, Captain Consulting, to undertake to verify the certificates of all civil servants in the state in 2015.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the state, Jacob Adekomi, also confirmed that 422 workers would be affected.
He said the NLC’s intervention helped to reduce the number of those listed for to be sacked from 5,000 to 422.
Oyebade’s statement dated September 13, read, “The panel submitted its report and it was adopted for implementation by the immediate past administration.
“However, when the new administration came on board in November 2018, the leadership of Organised Labour Movement in the state appealed passionately to the state government to have a rethink on the implementation of the report.
“After much pressure from labour, the government set up a five-man panel to further examine the report and make necessary recommendations in line with extant public service rules and regulations.”
Explaining further, the NLC leader in the state said labour was involved in the verification from the beginning, adding that it insisted that the report and recommendations be reviewed because it felt that the firm’s position was not a true reflection of the audit.
“When the report was reviewed only 422 civil servants, whose cases were beyond us due to the rules of the service, will be affected.
“But we interceded for the affected officers to ensure that they were not prosecuted or even made to refund the money they earned during their stay in service,” he said.
