Makinde to Labour: We’ll Continue to Be Friends

Oyo State Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, yesterday, assured the workers in the state that his administration would sustain the cordial relationship between itself and the Labour Unions, which had helped to enhance the growth, progress and development of the state.

The governor stated this while addressing the leadership and members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the state at the frontage of the Governor’s Office, Agodi, Ibadan.

The governor, who regretted that last week’s protests by the workers had affected the revenue of the state, warned the Labour unions not to allow anyone to come between them and the government.

He added that henceforth his administration would hold a quarterly parley with the unions, which would serve to bring the government and the unions on the same page and ensure that their agitations were addressed without confrontations and protests.

“I have engaged with your leaders and we have discussed. They begged me that some of these things that happened were not supposed to have happened and I also begged them that if there was anything that I did wrong, it is our state, governors will come and go.

“Five years ago, I was not here and in three years and some months to come, I will not be here as the governor, but our state will remain. So, in everything that we do, let us remember that it is our state, we don’t have anywhere else that we can call home and anyone that wants to draw water from the well should not pollute that well.

“There are people, who don’t want progress for our state, they will try to come in between you and I. But I have promised that every quarter, we will be having a parley with the leadership of the labour unions. We will ensure we close the gap between the government and the labour.”

However, Chairman of the NLC in the state, Comrade Kayode Martins, said the workers had apologised to the governor and that most of their demands had actually been addressed since last week while workers were not at work.

Addressing journalists shortly after the governor’s address, Martins thanked the governor for addressing the workers personally, affirming that the governor had attended to some of their agitations and also directed the leadership of the unions to resume to the table to discuss the other issues.