Minister supports Kogi Governor on fiscal discipline, urges ASUP shelve strike

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Prof. Stephen Ocheni, has expressed satisfaction with the performance of Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi in his quest for financial probity and fiscal discipline.

Ocheni said this at a news conference on the internal security and industrial and labour harmony in Kogi on Monday in Abuja.

The minister called on the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) to call off their strike and embrace dialogue in the interest of their students.

He also condemned opposition for embarking on campaign of calumny to discredit the Governor.

He said that it was most unfortunate that opposition politicians were celebrating and politicising the internal security and industrial issues in Kogi instead of condemning it and supporting the government.

Ocheni said rather than the opposition to join hand with the Governor now that the economy of the state was recuperating for a greater Kogi State, it had embarked on cheap negative blackmail.

“The government’s is striving hard to put the economy back on sound footing through surgical operation for quick economic recovery,” he said.

According to him, one of the giant strides in this direction was the massive flushing out of over 20,000 ghost workers in the state civil service.

He added that the anomaly had gone on in the state since its creation but was halted through a result oriented staff screening exercise.

He said that the governor had also put in place measures to strengthen the economy of the state through improved fiscal discipline, reduction in corruption, transparency and accountability.

Ocheni said that the governor had also adopted the contributory pension scheme to ensure that every employee received his retirement benefits as and when due.

He commended the governor for his achievement on security, adding that the governor’s effort had changed the narratives associated with the past insecurity of lives and property in the state.

He lauded the governor and the organised labour for the amicable resolution of the industrial dispute in the state.

“The task ahead is to build a new Kogi state and imbibe the culture of change in order to change the wrong ways of doing government business,” he said.