Ogun Ex-Permanent Secretary Laments Non Payment Gratuity, Allowances, Others

By Damilola Ajibola

A former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Ogun State, Awere Abiodun, has lamented the non payment of his gratuity, leave bonus and other allowances several months after leaving the office.

Awere in a letter written and addressed to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Tokunbo Talabi and the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Shuaib Salisu appealed to the State government to urgently pay his entitlements.

The former Permanent Secretary said, it was regrettable that, government refused to give him an official car even after losing his personal car to thieves while on official duty. 

Awere in the letter titled, “Enjoyment of Retirement Benefits Sweet while Alive”, said he is devastated by his losses while serving the State in various capacities.

The letter partly reads, “Sir, each day I look back at my loss while in service,l  feel devastated, but also quickly thank the Almighty Allah for sparing my life and making me a Permanent Secretary in Ogun State.After all,when there is life,there is hope.

“There are Privileges and Rights attached to the position of a Head of Service or Permanent Secretary such as: Official Car, Robe Allowance, Furniture Allowance, Leave Bonus and the immediate payment of Gratuity upon retirement. I humbly wish to state that l have not benefited in any of these despite the loyalty and dedication to the two principals (SSG and CoS) and Government for almost 3 years as a Permanent Secretary in the State.

“With due respect Sir, l recall various deep nights, between 1a.m — 2 a.m on constant occasions, that l would be called upon to salvage various government assignments and without any hesitation, l usually rose to the occasion despite strings of dangers attached to walking late and at such time. Of course, I always consider it as dedication to duty, loyalty, respect and passion for my work.

“Sir, it is pertinent to recall that l lost a personal vehicle on my way to Igbesa for the Turning of Sord. That day, l abandoned my vehicle at Otta Tollgate only to join ‘Okada’ in order to avoid traffic for the timely delivery of the programme brochure assigned to me to salvage at 1am  for the 10 am event. 

“Lo and behold, by the time I returned to the spot where I abandoned my car, it had been stolen, and not found till date! Unfortunately on my side, I put the record cushion help to my retirement period, but soon done on me that my official car would not be allocated to me. 

The only reward was that,” Awere was making money and that, he has printing machines “that must be making him perform wonderfully and quick delivery”. However, the truth is that, till today, I don’t have any printing machine nor press of any kind, but always handing those printing jobs over to government’s trusted people from Lagos. lt was just my passion as PS, lnformation that always propelled me to ensure that the assignment must not fail.

“Sir, my heart bleeds when discovered that after just few months of my retirement from service, official vehicles were allocated to the remaining Permanent Secretaries, including the new ones without consideration of our own labour, sacrifice and loss. Some who aware my efforts called me ‘Used and Dumped’ Permanent Secretary.

“Government may be facing financial constraints, notwithstanding, when the position of Permanent Secretary is considered as the highest representative of the Government in the Civil Service (apart from HoS), my personal sacrifice, as well as lost of a personal vehicle on assignment, I kindly appeal that you consider the allocation of a vehicle as a replacement of my personal car that got lost on  official assignment”.