The need to ensure judicious spending of resources and increase efficiency are the reasons for the hiring of consultants to audit expenditures of higher institutions of learning in Oyo State, Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Labour Affairs, Adebayo Titilola – Sodo, has said.
Adebayo Titilola-Sodo, who is also the immediate past Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, blamed the communication gap for the furore the issue has generated.
His words: “The laws that set up each of our institutions confer the Governing Councils, which are the apex bodies, to run the affairs of the institutions. It also provides for the interventions of the Visitor. The visitor is the owner of the institution. Ultimately, the eight million people of Oyo State are the Visitor. So, we have voted for a governor who represents the people as the Visitor. In essence, the visitor is above the Governing Council. It is within the right of the Visitor to evolve the best system to bring efficiency into the system.”
Titilola-Sodo, who stated this in Ibadan, argued that there is indeed a need for consultants to undertake a sufficient test of the expenditures in all tertiary institutions, not just in only The Polytechnic, Ibadan but also in others.
“There are several reasons for hiring consultants. Whatever resources are available, the government wants to apply the resources more efficiently than before and also wants the collection of fees to be more efficient than before.
“We all like to resist change even if that change will be better and beneficial to us in the long run,” he stated.
He, therefore, called for industrial harmony from among various trade unions in the state.
Titilola-Sodo urged workers to seek ways of improving their productivity to move the state to greater heights.
He pointed out that the workers needed to be more diligent to reciprocate the prioritisation of workers’ welfare by Governor Seyi Makinde.
He said: “I want to tell you that the government has continued to live up to its promise not to owe salaries, entitlement and others.
“It has maintained that pledge. It has never failed in ensuring that every worker in the state gets his or her entitlement on the 25th of every month. Even pensioners, get their pensions regularly.”
