Osun Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, said on Friday that the salary imbroglio in his state which led to workers strike, was beyond his control. He said this while fieding questions from State House Correspondents in Abuja. “No head of the family will be happy that he cannot feed members of the family.
“Extend that to state, it is heart-rending that I am in this quagmire. “But no matter how sad (I don’t want to use the word ‘depressed), no matter how unhappy I am, the truth is that I will not fail to say that it is a situation absolutely beyond my control,” he said. The governor said that he led an administration in receipt of regular allocation “in which I do my budget”.
“Unfortunately, this allocation started falling in rapid form that totally disorganised my budget and any other arrangement. “For those who want to be objective, Osun of November 2010 when I assumed office and Osun of today are not the same. “People must give credit to the changes that we have brought about in Osun. The changes were not miracles, they were changes occasioned by application of resources. “But with the unexpected and sharp decline in our revenue, we had dislocation. The result of that dislocation is this quite sad experience.”
He said that if the situation was peculiar to his state he would probably have no excuse. “I pray it does not continue. I am not sure if there will be any state that will actually escape from the biting effect of the absolute sharp drop which I call economic disaster that we are grappling with.
“Since my inauguration on November 27, 2010, I had made it a duty to pay salary on or before 25th of every month up until January 2014 when that became practically impossible. “I have been giving the same staff who today are, regrettably and painfully, not being paid annual bonus that we call 13th month salary. “There was no demand for it. I just felt that workers must be encouraged, they must be inspired. “I did that religiously and faithfully from 2010 to 2013.”
Aregbesola added that the development that led to the crisis began “in July when we received the June allocation and it was short by 40 per cent”. According to him, since then, what the state was receiving from the Federation Account “is less than the wages, personnel cost”. He narrated how Osun had struggled with it untill October 2014.
“By that time, there was nothing we could do. Add to it is that we could not even go to bank to borrow to pay the wages commitment. “It is a sad development. “I am struggling to reduce the pain as much as possible and I am almost at the end of the efforts I am making to ensure that by the end of this month, I will have enough to at least meet to a large extent the salary needs of the workers,” he added. For more scintillating and juicy stories, follow the official Naijapals accounts On Twitter - @Naijapals and Facebook - www.facebook.com/naijapals
I have been reporting on latest news from Nigeria for almost 10 years now. I report on every possible news area I come across, but always ensure my reports are compiled with dignity and fact to uphold my personal values and duty as a journalist
Posted: at 13-06-2015 08:29 AM (9 years ago) | Addicted Hero
paulohking at 13-06-2015 08:48 AM (9 years ago) (m)
Beyond his control? that's what happens when you borrow huge amount of money from d bank trying to unduly make an exception. you made d FG ur guarantor, it's time u start paying ur debt to d bank, u didn't fulfil ur end of d bargain....... so d FG decided to remove from ur allocation to settle ur debt and give u what us left of it... now you're crying abt dat they're(the FG) isn't paying ur full allocation...who d'you think you're fooling? the illiterate people of osun state or d brainwashed folks who refused to be free from d juju u travel to Cuba to do ? mtcheeeeeew. SMH
I ain't no politician but it pains when those thieves calling themselves leaders lies openly cos they believe there's nothing we can do about it. Fucck you man!
Posted: at 13-06-2015 08:48 AM (9 years ago) | Hero
paulohking at 13-06-2015 08:49 AM (9 years ago) (m)
Beyond his control? that's what happens when you borrow huge amount of money from d bank trying to unduly make an exception. you made d FG ur guarantor, it's time u start paying ur debt to d bank, u didn't fulfil ur end of d bargain....... so d FG decided to remove from ur allocation to settle ur debt and give u what us left of it... now you're crying abt dat they're(the FG) isn't paying ur full allocation...who d'you think you're fooling? the illiterate people of osun state or d brainwashed folks who refused to be free from d juju u travel to Cuba to do ? mtcheeeeeew. SMH
I ain't no politician but it pains when those thieves calling themselves leaders lies openly cos they believe there's nothing we can do about it. Fucck you man!
Posted: at 13-06-2015 08:49 AM (9 years ago) | Hero
please...can you tell us if your salary, that of your commissioner's and advisers..members of the house of assembly Tec have also not been paid in the same period?
please tell us now..we need to know
Posted: at 13-06-2015 10:34 AM (9 years ago) | Newbie
please...can you tell us if your salary, that of your commissioner's and advisers..members of the house of assembly etc have also not been paid in the same period?
please tell us now..we need to know
Posted: at 13-06-2015 10:36 AM (9 years ago) | Newbie
During election he was even in Lagos every time squandering money and donating big cash to Tinubu fund for change.Now change has come but nothing to implement the structures of change. Looters!!!!!
Posted: at 14-06-2015 05:08 PM (9 years ago) | Gistmaniac