Governor Rauf Aregbesola-led
government of Osun has spent a total of
N14.2bn to clear all salary arrears in the
state. This wofa revealed by the governor
who made the confirmation saying the
amount was paid out by his government
in less than two weeks before the end of
December 2016. Aregbesola stated this
when the State government opened the
year with supplications as the Governor
led Muslim and Christian faithful at an
interdenominational thanksgiving session
at the Government Secretariat, Osogbo.
Aregbesola, who laced his speech with
songs of praises to God in Islamic and
Christian ways, said with what befell the
state before the close of 2015, it was
gratifying that the state bounced back in
what can now be felt as relief from the
hardship of last year. He said the ability
of his government to pay workers’
salaries from September, October,
November and December in less than a
record two week period was a huge
relief.
The governor said it was in September
2014 that he had to call on workers to
decide whether they wanted a staff
reduction or payment of salaries
according to available resources when
the impact of the economic hardship in
the country began to bite harder. He
said in July 2015, the new Federal
Government which had been sworn in
May, 2015, listened to some of the
solutions proffered to the national
revenue crisis. Aregbesola said when the
state got N34.9bn bailout loan in 2015,
there were controversies on how to
disburse the funds when some people
insisted that the whole funds be spent
all at once.
“But I knew that with the magnitude of
the economic crisis facing Nigeria, it
would have been suicidal to expend the
whole bailout loan at once without
saving a portion of it which eventually
bailed us out till around February this
year,” Aregbesola said. The governor
recalled that this was what made
necessary, the constitution of the state’s
Revenue Apportionment Committee
headed by labour veteran Comrade
Hassan Sunmonu which he said made it
possible for the state to pay salaries till
February of 2016. He said the arrival of
the Paris Club deductions refunds which
made N11.7bn available to the state has
brought some relief noting that the state
would however need to intensify its
efforts towards self-sustenance. “We are
grateful that our hardships are getting
over giving us indications that the new
year would be better.” he added. The
governor while expressing appreciation
to workers who showed understanding,
appealed to those who have not shown
signs of understanding the trends.
He added, “LAUTECH lecturers have
insisted they would not cooperate with
the government despite their knowledge
of the economic conditions we face. We
appeal to them to accept our fate at the
moment for the sake of the students’
future.” He expressed optimism that by
June this year, there are signs that the
recession would come to an end. While
appealing to all stakeholders to look
inward, Aregbesola charged traditional
rulers promote agriculture in their
respective domain just as he appealed to
them to engage in vigorous campaigns
for payment of taxes. “We want to
engage massively in agriculture. We
want to aggressively grow cassava,
maize, plantain, rice, soya beans and the
existing cocoa which our people are
already growing.
It is now clear that those who are
looking for free things will wait forever.
It’s certain that oil price can no longer
return to its old rates and free money
won’t come again. If we don’t want to
continue to suffer this lack, farming is
the only venture we must embark on,”
He assured that the government would
give financial aides to those interested in
farming. The governor also hinted that
by 1st of February, this year, his
government would enforce the use of
the standard measures and scales for all
commercial transactions as part of
efforts to make commerce attractive in
Osun. “Whoever fails to use Osunwon
Omoluabi will face the consequences.”
The Head of Service Mr. Sunday
Owoeye, in his speech saluted the
courage and commitment of the Osun
workforce. Owoeye, who said revenue
generation should be a major focus of
the workers in the new year, said the
workers have shown commitment. “I
wish to acknowledge the sacrifice and
endurance of Public Servants in the
State in these trying times we are
passing through. We have proved to the
whole world our resilience in the face of
unanticipated challenges such that when
the going gets tough, the tough gets
going!
Whenever the history of the State will be
written in future and the achievements
of this sparkling Aregbesola
Administration are enumerated, the
indomitable and altruistic spirit with
which the Public Servants weather the
current storms shall definitely occupy a
conspicuous space! “I wish to charge
every public servant to continue to
support this administration in its drive
towards self-sufficiency by being more
proactive in revenue generation. The
largest room in the world is the room for
improvement and the road to success is
always under construction ad infinitum!”
In his sermon, Dr. Isiaka Lawal of the
College of Education Ilesa, advised civil
servants to abide by the rules of their
engagements noting that leakages of
officially classified documents, no matter
for what reason, contradicts civil service
rules.
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