• Recalls Saraki’s commando-like, high-handed disengagement of workers
• Urges staff not to be used by politicians masquerading as journalists
Kwara Intelligentsia Initiative (KII) has commended the ongoing transitory arrangement of Kwara Hotel staff into the civil service under Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, following the need for a comprehensive government intervention in the hotel that had been thrown into insolvency by maladministration, misappropriation and unpaid accumulated debts running into over N500 million naira under the previous administrations of Dr Bukola Saraki and Dr Abdulfatai Ahmed.
The group said the transitory arrangement is commendable, especially when they match it against the high-handed and commando-like disengagement of the same hotel workers during the era of the Saraki dynasty, where a lot of able-bodied young men who had not reached retirement age were summarily sacked and cracked down by security forces in the name of repositioning the hotel.
Their statement issued by their Chairman, Mr Bayo Kolawole, on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, reads:
“We came in contact with the news of an ongoing transition of Kwara Hotel staff into the civil service following a malicious news peddled by Fresh Insight, a blog that has become synonymous with fake news and anti-government reports. We are not surprised with the malicious report because Fresh Insight is run by some partisan fellows who do not disguise their bias and unprofessionalism. How agents and chieftains of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the state want to continue to parade themselves as journalists is quite amusing. They package biles, lies and propaganda against the government as reports and exclusive stories to deceive the people for their own political gains. But this agenda has since been unraveled by a large number of the people who do not rely on their reports.
“At Kwara Intelligentsia Initiative, we wish to commend Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for this considerate transition of the Kwara Hotel staff into the civil service. We have read that other sectors of the civil service are being considered for the migration of the workers since their educational qualifications and other criterias may not make it possible for them to be absorbed into the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Technology which has been saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the repositioning of the hotel under the current administration.
“This move makes a lot of sense as able-bodied young men and women will not have to bear the consequence of joining the unemployed community. We salute Governor AbdulRazaq. This is especially because as Kwarans, we have witnessed similar attempts to reposition the same hotel under the previous administrations that came with a lot of pains, deprivations and inhumane treatment for the workers. When Bukola Saraki wanted to bring in his incompetent consultants (KHIMS) that ruined Kwara Hotel, a lot of able-bodied young Kwara Hotel workers who had not clocked retirement age were thrown back to the labor market after they were summarily sacked. Security forces were deployed to throw them out of the hotel in a commando-like style. Their entitlements were also not paid. A similar situation happened under Abdulfatai Ahmed when Harmony Holdings took over the management of the hotel. Several of the workers were sacked without consideration for their absorption into the civil service.
“This is why we commend the move of Governor AbdulRazaq. In fact, in some other places, when state investments collapse like this and need repositioning, the workers are usually laid off. But Governor AbdulRazaq is proving to be different just to make life easier for the masses. We are surprised therefore that any sane media platform will be pushing an agenda to paint this genuinely humane process bad especially in the face of this harsh global economic realities. How would they have felt if the governor imitates his predecessors in office by passing a list of retained staff in the dead of the night and engaging maximum force to throw out the remaining in the morning without any proper considerations for their entitlements or even making any genuine attempt at getting them engaged? This government is not responsible for the insolvency of the hotel. It is a consequence of the maladministration, misappropriation and corruption of the past, but it is taking responsibility. We are therefore surprised to see a platform lending itself as an evil force to discredit the process, manipulate the workers and deceive the public, just for the political gains of its patrons. We wonder which Kwara Hotel worker will say the decision of Governor AbdulRazaq is cruel having witnessed the Saraki era where their colleagues were just summarily disengaged in a circumstance like this, without the payment of their entitlements.
“This government has been fair enough to even approve the payment of these workers while the transition process is still ongoing. It shows commitment to the welfare and good of citizens. It’s normal and right that the conditions guiding the civil service where they are being considered for migration are thoroughly reviewed in carrying out this process. Workers of Kwara Hotel should not allow some politicians masquerading as journalists to cash in on their situation. They will only complicate it and make things messier. They should continue to cooperate with the government and support it to do what is required by the law, rules and regulations in the transition process. We all know that the civil service has criterias for engaging people including educational qualifications, age, state of origin. Experts should be made to review these and take the right decision that will not bastardise the service. The Saraki dynasty model is surely not the way to go on Kwara Hotel.”
