Ekiti and Osun State governors, Kayode Fayemi and Gboyega Oyetola respectively are yet to appoint commissioners several months after they were sworn in as governors. The governors are attributing their inability to appoint commissioners to outstanding financial responsibilities they inherited and the inadequacy of financial inflows in the states.
The Ekiti state governor, Kayode Fayemi who was sworn in on October 16, 2018, is currently running his government with only two commissioners who are the Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development and the Commissioner for Justice. According to the government, the two commissioners appointed by the governor are sensitive commissioners which the state could not do without.
Kayode Fayemi stated that the clog in the wheel for the appointing of commissioners is due to financial insolvency of the state, stressing that appointing commissioners and other political appointees involves a huge financial implications which the government cannot handle at the moment.
In order to keep the government running pending the appointment of commissioners in Ekiti State, the governor had chosen to rely solely on the services of permanent secretaries who are career civil servants to run the affairs of the ministries and help implement government policies pending the coming in of new commissioners.
According to the Chief Press Secretary to the governor of Ekiti State, Olayinka Oyebode, the government of Ekiti State would only appoint new commissioners after clearing all the financial backlogs bordering on workers emoluments, pensions and gratuities. He added that there was a need to get the state running, while the issue of appointments was pending due to financial challenges. He stated that when commissioners are appointed, they come in with other financial responsibilities. So the decision to keep the appointment of commissioners pending is to help the government to channel the limited resources of the state to settle certain things and that is why the issue of commissionership is being delayed.
Olayinka Oyebode hammered on the cost implication of appointing commissioners by saying that, “When you bring in commissioners, there is a minimum number you must bring in and there is a minimum emolument that must be provided. They will also have personal assistants, accommodations and official vehicles and things like that.” So the government felt that he could still hold down on appointing commissioners and settle some basic things first and foremost. He added that previous commissioners and appointees of the state were yet to be paid their severance package. Those who served 2010 to 2014, none of them were paid their severance package.
He stated that some of the commissioners also served in previous administration, the governor is just trying to offset that now. Somebody who served as commissioner and special adviser is entitled to his severance allowance. He also brought up the issue of pensions, saying that there was a backlog of unpaid pensions and salaries. The government is currently trying to make sure that the arrears of pensions and salaries are paid to create a level of some financial responsibilities. He state that before Kayode Fayemi came into power, workers were owed six months salaries and that one month of the arrears had been paid, leaving an outstanding of five months. He however added that since coming into power, “The governor was not owing salaries since he came into office as salaries are being paid as and when due.”
Olayinka Oyebode stated that the gratuities of retirees run into several millions and we have to deal with that too. So, the government has increased the monthly allocation for gratuities from N10 million to N100 million. These he stated that are some of the commitments the governor felt he needed to attend to before attending to the appointment of commissioners which brings another financial burden. He however assured the public that in a couple of months and or weeks, the commissioners will be appointed, especially now that the basic things are being handled. He added that other financial hindrances delaying the appointment of commissioners include the wrongful dismissal of some permanent secretaries that the court had ordered to be paid their entitlements as well as the free education of the government.
In Osun State, Gov. Gboyega Oyetola is also facing a similar situation. The situation is not different, as the governor is yet to appoint any commissioner since it assumed office in November, 2018. The Osun State government is also grappling with the arduous task of paying salaries, and had yet to begin the payment of several months of salary arrears to the different categories of workers incurred under the last administration. In the state, seven supervisors have been appointed to do the work of commissioners over the ministries of works, finance, agriculture, home affairs, education and Information.
According to the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Niyi Adesina, has rather blamed the schedule of elections and electioneering activities for the delay in the appointment of commissioners. He denied the delay stated that, “There has not been any delay in the real sense of the word because the governor came in November, we had elections.” He stressed that, “We had the presidential elections, and then the house of assembly elections and these are crucial elections. We had all hands on deck toward the election. If you make appointments before elections you could ruffle some feathers. So the governor had to get all hands to finish the elections and after elections we can begin to make appointments. “Before then, anyway, he had appointed seven people as supervisors over some key ministries. Like finance, works, home affairs, education, and agric. They were appointed as supervisors for key ministries in an ad hoc basis. As soon as the elections were over last week, he appointed the Chief of Staff and the Secretary to the State Government.”
Niyi Adesina stated that at any moment from now the names of the commissioners would be sent to the house of assembly. There has not been really any delay. The governor doesn’t want to create bad blood among members of the party.
