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Workers at the Osun Job Centre have appealed to Governor Ademola Adeleke to see to the payment of their salaries, saying they are dying of hunger.
The workers who expressed confidence in Adeleke’s compassion on their matter, said living has been a serious challenge to everyone of them since the government stopped their salaries over a year ago.
According to the workers who spoke with newsmen on Tuesday in Osogbo, the current economic hardship has worsened their living condition, disclosing that they have no money to meet their basic needs.
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The workers also urged Adeleke to reopen the centre and make proper use of it, stating that the agency is capable of reducing unemployment, building capacity for employed and unemployed graduates from the state.
One of the workers, Mr Joshua Adebare, described the Job centre as an asset that the state government should protect jealously because of its capacity to secure jobs for unemployed candidates and thereby position Osun as one of the three states with least unemployment rate.
Adebare said: “It is over a year that the state government stopped our salaries; we have been living from hand to mouth since then. We appeal to Governor Ademola Adeleke to be compassionate on our matter, like he did to the judiciary workers whose salaries were not paid for two years.
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“We are not politicians and we should not be treated as such. The Governor should please see to the payment of our salaries for the sake of our wellbeing, family and other dependants. We are dying of hunger. The current economic hardship has made the matter worse.”
“Osun Job Centre is an asset that the State government should protect. We have been facilitating recruitment of Osun indigenes and residents into private sectors and helping the private employers to recruit suitable candidates from among unemployed youth in the state.
“The agency was also conducting ICT, employability and entrepreneurial training for indigenes and residents of the state to make them suitable for available opportunities. We also engaged in career counseling, review of Curriculum Vitae (CV), interview preparation and career coaching to indigenes and residents of the state.
“We have helped thousands of people to get job. This asset should not be thrown away just like that. Governor Adeleke should revive the centre and make it functional. We also plead that he should instruct the payment of our 12 months salaries. We know the governor to be a merciful person.”
Corroborating Adebare’s claim, another worker of the agency, Mr Tope Akintomiwa, said: “Osun job centre has the facilities and templates to assist in the ongoing recruitment of teachers in the state and other training services in entrepreneurship and employment programmes.
“Reviving the centre will surely boost the image of government in consonance with Governor Adeleke’s agenda for skilled and unskilled youths.”
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It was gathered that the Osun Job Centre workers did not receive any salary throughout 2023.
The medium also gathered that there was no official communication from the state government to the workers before the agency was shut.
The job centre was created in 2016 as part of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola administration’s effort to reduce unemployment in the state.