Uncovered: Amosun’s Many Lies About Job Creation in Ogun
Lies, deceit and falsehood are the words used to describe the actions of Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State concerning his bid to create jobs for the unemployed youth in the gateway state.
The Job creation deceit, according to the young job seekers in Abeokuta who spoke with NigerianEcho, took a new turn in Ogun State this morning as many graduates who applied for different posts in the Hospital Management Board of the Ministry of Health few weeks ago and were confirmed suitable and qualified for employment; in spite of their successes in the job’s test got what they never bargained for as their names were nowhere to be found on 
the list of shortlisted candidates. An aggrieved job seeker who spoke with NigeriaEcho expressed disappointment in the government of the day alleging them of being deceitful and full of lies. He said, “I applied for the job as advertised by the Hospital Management Board, I was called for the interview and last Saturday I got a message that I succeeded in the interview and should come for my appointment letter. The text I got reads; (Following your success at the recent interview conducted by HMB, you are to come for your appointment letter on Tuesday 3/7/2012, please come along with original of your credentials and 2 passports as well as licence) but to my amazement I got here this morning and was told my name is not on the list of those employed. I’m not insisting that this government grant me its job if they got reasons not to do so, but my issue is this, why send me a text of such when you know you’ve got no job for me”.
“Is this the change we voted for?” Those were the words of a young lady who came all the way from Idiroko in Ipokia Local Government. “Many of those given the appointment letters today weren’t part of the interview conducted few weeks back, our names have been substituted for some political affiliates of theirs” the disappointed lady said in anger.
Effort by our correspondent to speak with the Permanent Secretary (PS), Hospital Management Board (HMB) whose direct boss is the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka proved abortive as we were informed by a staff who spoke with us under the condition of anonymity that the PS fled to avoid unnecessary embarrassment that the issue might provoke. The Commissioner was not also willing to talk as his aide shielded us from getting a word from him.
In the same vein, Amosun’s government has also been taken to task about a Chinese company that was supposed to employ 180 people. The government’s agency in charge of employment generation, Ogun State employment generation agency, (OGEGEP) had assured youths who participated in the training anchored by a the Chinese firm of job opportunities. The exercise attracted over 500 participants, but no one has been employed fueling speculation that the programme might be another deceptive move by the government.
Amosun during his campaign towards the 2011 elections promised to create nothing less than 20,000 jobs in his first year in office, a promise that has made unemployed graduates see the accountant turned politician as a liar and man of deceit because since he got to the office last year May, he has not been able to employ even 5000 graduates. Rather than create jobs for the youth of Ogun state, he has sacked over 2000 workers employed by his predecessor, an action that caused uproar in the state last year.
Amosun-led government embarked on his job creation programme last year which he claimed was for qualified Ogun indigenes as a scheme to fulfil part of his campaign promises. The form for the job application according to what an unemployed youth in Abeokuta told our correspondent, was channelled through the structure of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; the ruling party in the state. With the distribution of job application form through ACN structure in the state, non partisan persons in the state didn’t benefit as only ACN members, their friends, families and associates were favoured with the form. Even at the end of the job screening and interview session majority of those short-listed ended up as street sweeper, office cleaners and the likes.
A text to the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communication , Funmi Wakama has not been replied as she didn’t pick her calls.
