…As ISOPADEC staff want Imo Govt to reverse 80 per cent salary cut***

The Oyo State Government says efforts are ongoing to ensure that maternity leave for pregnant and nursing mothers who are state employees is extended from four to six months.

This is contained in a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun, issued on Thursday in Ibadan.

The statement quoted Mrs Faosat Sanni, the State’s Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, as speaking on the extension plan at a two-day workshop on ‘Safe Motherhood’.

The workshop was organised by the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Oyo chapter.

Sanni said the extension was necessary in order to ensure  that adequate care was given to the newborn, while the mothers would also have the privilege to take care of themselves.

She stressed that the present administration under the leadership of Gov. Seyi Makinde, had supported every key aspect of motherhood, in order to promote the well being of women and children in the state.

According to her, the administration has been promoting, educating, empowering and protecting children and women from all forms of abuse.

“The administration has also been supporting them financially, especially those in need of financial help.

“Safe motherhood is a serious issue that every government must put in the front burner of discussions, that will bring about a happy home and promote a progressive society,” she said.

A state lawmaker, Mrs Wumi Oladeji, Chairperson, House Committee on Women Affairs and Community Development, is also quoted in the statement as saying at the occassion that the state legislature had been gender-friendly.

Oladeji said that the House had enacted laws to take adequate care of the interest of women and children.

She said that the Oyo Assembly was the first to domesticate the Child Rights Law (2006) in the country.

“Other gender friendly laws enacted by the assembly are Violence Against Women (2016), Oyo State Family Planning, Reproductive Health and Maternity Services Law, (2019) and Oyo State Kidnapping (Prohibition) Law, (2016) among others.

“Some other bills under processing that are meant to protect the interest of women are Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Bill, 2019, Child Sexual Offences Bill, (2019), and Sexual and Gender Based Violence Response Team and Referral Centre Bill, (2020),” Oladeji stated.

Meanwhile, Olatunbosun, who declared the workshop opened, said the Oyo State Government had been doing its best to reduce the suffering of women through its policies and programmes.

“With the free education policy of this administration, most women have been able to send their children to school.

“It is a fact that majority of women used to bear the burden of taking care of the home front,” he said.

The commissioner advised women to support their husbands and raise their children well, while striving to be at the top of their careers.

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In another development, the Staff of Imo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (ISOPADEC) have appealed to the state government to reverse the 80 per cent cut in their salaries in July.

rejected pay cut of  80 Per cent, by the state government, which they said reflected in their July 2020 salary.

Mr Chinedu Awuzie, Chairman of the staff union made. the appeal at a press conference in Owerri on Thursday.

Awuzie said that since workers of the commission did not receive pension after retirement, it was inhuman to slash their salaries.

He said besides the pay cut, government was still owing staff of the commission three months salary, which he said had made them suffer untold hardship.

Awuzie, who displayed bank details of their July salary, said while majority of their staff received 80 per cent pay cut, some of the staff members were yet to be paid.

He argued that ISOPADEC was not under the Civil Service structure  of the state and wondered why the  government included their payroll  under the civil service structure.

“We are not civil servants, but public servants. Our job is not pensionable and so government must realise that fact and treat us accordingly.

“ISOPADEC was established to cushion the effect of oil spillage in oil producing areas, we believe in the Share Prosperity Mantra of our governor, so we urge  him to come to our aid,”  he said.

On the alleged attack on Gov. Hope Uzodinma’s convoy by staff of ISOPADEC, Awuzie denied their involvement but acknowledged that some staff who were on a peaceful protest over four months salary owed them were arrested by the police.

He insisted that no staff of ISOPADEC was involved in the alleged attack, saying those arrested by the police were workers of the commission who were on a peaceful protest to government house in Owerri over unpaid salaries.

“We were on a peaceful protest to government house to demand for our unpaid four months salaries when the police ambushed us and arrested 15  of our members,” he said

In a swift reaction, Mr Declan Emelumba, Imo Commissioner for Information, said their claims on salary cut was  false.

He said government decided to pay them on normal salary structure until the controversy in the special salary structure which they had  been enjoying was resolved.

The Police Command in Imo, on Monday, arrested 15 workers of ISOPADEC for alleged involvement in the Uzodinma’s convoy attack.

The 15 suspects were however, arraigned and remanded in prison on Wednesday.