Against the backdrop of economic hardship facing the people following the withdrawal of petroleum subsidy since about six months ago, the Kwara State Governor Mal. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq approved a token sum of N10,000 for public service workers and pensioners in the State, which has so far been paid from August till October 2023.
However, the non-payment of the relief package in the month of November has attracted the attention of a Human Resource Management / Media Professional Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim who said the step taken by the State Governor by giving them the money since August this year was highly commendable, as the token amount of N10,000 given monthly to the public servants and pensioners should not be stopped, but rather should be increased.
This appeal was contained in a Press Statement he signed and released to the Media in Ilorin today stating that the Governor should kindly sustain the payment of the relief package till April next year when hopefully new National Minimum Wage would take effect and Kwara State would surely be part of it.
The Human Resource Expert who is also a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), noted that of all resources, human resources is the most valuable in any society, adding that stopping the relief package would create more problems for the beneficiaries.
Alhaji Ibrahim also called on Kwara State Public Servants and Pensioners to always appreciate the kind gestures of Kwara State Government no matter how little pointing-out that many requests and demands are competing with the little resources available to the State Government.
He commended the attention the State Governor has given to construction of roads and repairs of others in city of Ilorin – the State Capital and repositioning of Kwara State Television (KWTV), appealing to him to give similar attention to Radio Kwara I and II, the Herald and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Ilorin.
On Radio Kwara and NTA Ilorin in particular, the HR/Media Professional urged the State Governor to consider looking into the problems confronting them as they are very closed to the people. He said even though NTA ILORIN is a Federal Government Establishment, it has been serving the State creditably within its limited resources for the past 45 years; adding that their Studio and Equipment are obsolete and that both NTA ILORIN and Radio Kwara needs sound vehicles to run their affairs.
He noted that the office complex that got burnt in NTA Ilorin three years ago is already being fixed but could not be completed by the Management due to economic hardship facing the Station.
Alh. Abdullahi Ibrahim commended the State Administration in other areas of human endeavours but implored the State Governor to include State Public Servants, State Pensioners and Media Outfits in his next economic programmes for 2024 .