Please Pay My Leave Allowance, Gratuity, Ex-Perm. Sec Writes Ogun SSG, Chief of Staff

Awere

By Abiodun Awere

Dearest Principals,

Kindly accept my fraternal greetings of this season. More important, once again, I hereby express my profound gratitude and deep appreciation  for your kind indulgence, trust and opportunities given to serve under two of you directly during my time as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of lnformation and Strategy before my retirement recently. May the Almighty Allah continue to bless you both and manifest the Heavenly blessings on you and your families....Amin

This is not an official letter to government, but a passionate plea to my two invaluable principals in my capacity, not only as a former State official, but as your close worker, for the closeness that we shared, for the much trust and the confidence you always bestowed on my capacity and integrity.

Sincerely, working with both of you would remain a lasting memory of a good time. As a matter of fact, the love you placed on me throughout, would always overwhelm those hardships, risk and personal lost I incurred during this service.

Crux of the Matter:                        

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.

I also thanked the Government for my participation in the 2019 Pilgrimage  to the Holy Land( Mecca) Free.

However, kindly permit me to note this, sir:  there are Privileges and Rights attaching to the position of a Head of Service or Permanent Secretary such as:

I)Official Car,

2)Robe Allowance,

3)Furniture Allowance,

4)Leave Bonus and

5)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 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 other 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 were aware of my efforts called me "Used and Dumped " Permanent Secretary.

MY APPEAL

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

I will forever be grateful and appreciative of your efforts at giving this request, the attention it so deserved as I plead on your milk of kindness and love, Sir.

Once again, I thank you both, and the entire State Government under the leadership of our indefatigable Governor, His Excellency, Prince Dapo Abiodun mfr, for the good work the administration had continued to do in the socio-economic development of our dear State.

Many Thanks

Signed

Awere Abiodun PS (retd)