The Nation Newspaper

Tag: salaries

  • The national shame of unpaid salaries

    SIR: The heated debate raging over unpaid workers’ salaries in 23 out of the 36 states of the federation, in addition to the unjustifiable jumbo pay package for lawmakers, rubbishes the claim that democracy as a system of government here in Nigeria is ‘ for the people’. Nothing could be farther than the truth. The reward and payment structure in our dysfunctional polity is obscenely skewed in favour of public office holders.

    In our questionable rental state, political office is the ‘be all and the end all’ to economic sustenance. It is indeed, a Sesame key to open doors to wanton wealth. Little wonder, our politicians literally ‘kill’ themselves to get elected or selected into plum positions of authority. And the high cost of accessing political offices is partly responsible for the current sorry pass.

    This sad and saddening scenario triggers some burning questions: What happened to the trillions of naira disbursed from the federation account to the affected states over the past four years? What about their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)? What huge capital projects did they embark on that caused the sudden cash squeeze? What magic wand did the other 13 states employ to keep their workers from the pangs of hunger? It is curious that within the same period salaries were unpaid, the debt profile of a good number of the states owing their workers rose to the roof, isn’t it? And also the lifestyles of not a few of such governors were all but austere.

    We, concerned Nigerians, seek credible answers to these troubling questions in line with the accountability and transparency mantra of the Buhari-led administration. No meaningful change could be achieved, if the pilots of our ship of state continue to steer our affairs into stormy economic waters.

    Much as one would support the call for bail-out as loans by the Federal Government, to put a smile on the face of the helpless workers, if this trend is not probed and halted, it would rear its ugly head again. Good enough, this syndrome of unpaid salaries cuts across political party lines. No state governor would therefore cry foul alleging any form of political witch-hunt.

    Ordinarily, public office workers serve as catalysts for enabling government policies and programmes see the light of day. They carry out significant day-to- day functions with their sweat and tears that oil the machinery of economic growth and sustenance. Without them, there may be no billions of tax payers’ money to plunder and pillage all to satisfy the epicurean tastes of the ‘ogas at the top’. It is a collective insult on Nigeria’s psyche and soul that workers should be treated as slaves in a country that preaches but hardly practices an egalitarian society.

    The questions remain. In which other democratic state do we have governors going cap-in-hand every month end to receive so called allocations from the central government? Does it happen in the United States from which we copied our presidential system? Of course, not. But the unitary system   persists because it is a carry-over system from the long years of military rule.

    That explains why some of us who brand ourselves as public affairs analysts insist that we go back to fiscal federalism. If the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo-led government of the old Western Region could fund free education, durable roads, the first television station on the continent and a robust agricultural development with cocoa revenue, how come our crop of state governors are finding it Herculean to pay their workers from crude oil sales? That is food for thought.

    As the Holy Bible admonishes, ‘every labourer is deserving of his wage’ and ‘wisdom lies in prudence. Also as former President, Umar Yar’Ardua enthused, politics must be seen as selfless service. This master-slave relationship must stop.

     

    •  Ayo Oyoze Baje,

    Lagos

     

  • No plans to slash salaries, says Okorocha

    No plans to slash salaries, says Okorocha

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha has denied reports that his government plans to cut salaries of public servants by 30 per cent.

    He described as unfounded, allegations that an audit of workers will be done to reduce the workforce.

    A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo explained that the office of the Head of Service is collecting civil servants data for record purposes, which is different from staff auditing.

    The statement reads: “This is to inform civil servants that the Rescue Mission Government or the governor did not order a 30 per cent salary cut as being speculated, and has no plans to do so.

    “It is also not true that the state government is conducting staff audit of civil servants for the purpose of reducing the workforce. The office of the Head of service only embarked on the collection of individual data for record purposes. The exercise is different from staff auditing.

    “Our governor is known for humanitarian gestures and does not engage in any venture that would cause pain to individuals and groups in the state. That is why for the first four years of his administration, he tolerated street trading, illegal motor parks, rampant erection of kiosks and others until now,  but the situation has gone out of hand and calls for action.

    “It is also important to let the people know that those who are not happy with the victory of Governor Okorocha in the election are behind these rumours. Before now, they said the governor had scrapped free education, and banned Keke Napep. This time, they have come up with the falsehood of the government cutting salaries by 30 per cent and working to reduce the state work force.

    “All these are unintelligent lies that are neither here nor there and we appeal to the people to disregard such lies. All these are blatant lies. Governor Okorocha loves the people and will not take any action that would affect them negatively”.

  • Protesters seek AMCON chairman’s sack over unpaid salaries

    Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSON), SEAWOLF branch is calling for the sack of the Chairman, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Chike Obi.

    The spokesperson of the association, Mr. Femi Akpata, who made this call on behalf of his colleagues, said for the past 22 months their salaries have not been paid.

    Akpata said since Obi did not keep his promise of paying salaries after AMCON acquired the company from its owner, he should be sacked.

    Akpata said: “He went into agreement with the staff of SEAWOLF that all liabilities should be shifted to AMCON; for 22 months now we have been waiting and nothing.

    “We have had several meetings with the ministry of Petroleum, Labour and Productivity, Ministry of Finance had to intervene with them insisting AMCON pay the claims. AMCON even called us to say they will pay since last year, yet nothing has been done.

    “As I am speaking with you, we have three of our members in the mortuary, Obi is eating well on us, we are in hunger our families are suffering, he said we should come with our claims which we did on May 18th 2015, only to hear he has been in London.”

    AMCON’s Public Relations Officers in the Abuja office, where the protest took place, refused to speak with The Nation, claiming he was not in a position to comment on the issue.

  • Unpaid salaries

    Unpaid salaries

    Federal and state governments owing public sector workers should  find means of meeting this obligation

    At the last count, 18 state governments are said to owe their workers their monthly wages. This was confirmed by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) last week as it encouraged the state chapters of the beleaguered workers’ body to lead the public servants in protesting the development. It is unfortunate that at a time when the economic situation in the country is biting very hard, governments have shown that they are incapable of fulfilling such a basic obligation, thus subjecting workers and their dependants to untold hardship. When a government is unable to pay wages, it is an indication that all other responsibilities are on hold.

    The failure is not limited to the state governments. Frighteningly, the Federal Government has consistently in the past few months failed in paying staff salaries as and when due, an indication that the inability of the states to pay is a symptom of a deep-rooted national economic malaise that could only be tackled concertedly by all the stakeholders.

    The striking characteristics of a state include having a defined territory and population. The citizenry should thus be made happy and assured that in addition to warding off external aggression, the state is committed to guaranteeing its welfare and thus excite hope of a better and more prosperous future. Lately, the Nigerian state has failed in this regard and it is a major challenge that the Buhari administration will have to confront.

    The states where workers are crying for succour are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kogi, Katsina, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers and Zamfara. They owe their workers more than three months each, thus condemning them to poverty and misery. The public servants have continued to tell tales of woes. Many already have problems with landlords who have threatened to throw them out; others are unable to give family members due medical attention, while yet others have their children and wards attending private schools drop out. Governments exist to wipe away tears, not induce it.

    We are conscious of the explanation that the states have been badly affected by the indiscipline in the management of federal resources and the vicious withholding of statutory allocation from the federal purse to the federating units. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) responsible for sale and revenue accruing from oil has over the past year refused to duly render account for crude oil lifted and sold in the international market. The situation was worsened by the plunge in the price of the commodity. Since budget calculations were based on projections quite different from what we have today, state finances have been hit by the attendant crisis.

    We, however, know that corruption is not only a vice at the centre, but at the state level, too. When the going was good, many failed to plan for the lean days and are now paying the price. As the past government frittered national resources away, so did the state governments. In many, cost of governance kept ballooning without attention to the defective structure of the economy. Governors were often seen moving about within and outside the country with large contingents. On occasions, money was moved out of the country as the state governments wastefully claimed to be touring the world to woo foreign investors.

    It behoves the new government at the federal level to recognise that what has hit the states is partly induced by the ineptitude and corruption at the centre and cannot thus be left to them. It must be duly acknowledged as an emergency calling for concerted attention. Since some states are not that affected, but nonetheless confronted by other challenges, we recommend that the Federal Government should introduce a package of loans for the affected states. Such loans must be paid back to the Federation Account as soon as the situation improves.

    The Federal Government, too, has a duty to lead by example by ensuring that fiscal discipline is introduced and transparency becomes the watchword in the management of the common patrimony. Complaints by state governments about under-declaration of revenue must be immediately looked into and a report released. Only competent and frugal managers should be appointed to run the NNPC and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, among others.

    This is not an era for the business as usual approach to governance. It is also a time to commence the march towards fiscal federalism. Too much resources and powers are concentrated at the federal level, thus making the concept of federalism a huge joke in the country. The mobilisation and application of funds should largely devolve to the federating units. Concentration of resources in the hands and control of a few could only breed leakages, inefficiency and corruption. To boost the health of the national economy, this must stop.

    In the same vein, the Federal Government, the National Assembly and the state governments should work together towards reviewing the laws that prevent state governments from harnessing the resources in their domain.

  • Buhari and the challenge of unpaid salaries

    Nigeria’s President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, no doubt, has a huge burden upon his shoulder. Nearly every sector throughout the country is threatened and in predicament. The 16 years’ reign of the People Democratic Party, (PDP), has been a matter of one step forward two steps backwards. In particular, the last six years under President Goodluck Jonathan has been a huge disaster. The economy is currently comatose. The nation’s foreign reserve has been recklessly depleted by the spendthrift Jonathan administration. To worsen things, inflation and unemployment is at an all-time high while corruption has become the order of the day in the corridors of power. When the President of a country affirms on national television that ‘stealing is not corruption’, you don’t need to be a prophet to know that such a country is in trouble. The truth, is that Nigeria is actually in trouble.

    This is why I don’t envy General Buhari. The Nigeria that President Jonathan is leaving behind for Buhari is one that is in a complete mess, and we should make no mistake about it. One of the very daunting tasks that Buhari and his team would have to tackle in earnest is that of unpaid salaries raging across the country as this could become a clog in the wheel of democracy. In the last 16 years, the norm in budgetary planning, formulation and execution has been for recurrent expenditure to be excessively higher than capital outlay. This is not, in any way, peculiar to the Federal Government alone as nearly all the state governments in the country operate a similar unproductive budgetary planning.

    The consequence of this is the poor state of social and physical infrastructure across the country. Almost all federal roads are in terrible conditions. The inept PDP-led government, after 16 years in power, could not fix the nation’s refineries as we shamelessly continue to import refined petroleum products from neighbouring countries. This is what happens when a nation fails to prioritize its developmental needs. No nation in the world, not even the almighty United States of America, touted as the number-one economy could develop via the kind of budgetary system we have been operating in the past 16 years.

    High wage bills, as well as escalating cost of governance, remains a major threat to the survival of democracy in the country. Presently, aside the various Federal Government agencies and parastatals that are being owed various degrees of salaries and emoluments, about 26 state governments owe workers salaries in arrears of months. The State of Osun readily comes to mind here as the state has been singled out for target of media attack on this issue. I am piqued about this though since the state is not the only one in this dire financial strait. The Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was, in fact, the first person to call national attention to this financial disaster in 2013, when he alleged that the Federal Government had declared war on the state as allocation dropped to 40%.

    It will be difficult to query his record as a worker-friendly administrator. In some states, in order to ensure workers go home with something; salaries are paid in bits.  Expectedly, in most of the states, workers are threatening to go on strike in a bid to press home their demands for prompt payment of their wages. Things are not looking up at all. At the time of writing this, the April allocation has not been disbursed.

    With the decline in revenue accruing to the Federation Account through the sale of crude oil, some of the states might not be able to pay workers salaries, not to talk of paying arrears of pension and gratuity to pensioners. As things stand, the amount that stands to the credit of each of the states monthly is not enough to pay workers’ wages, and this means all other similar recurring expenditures would suffer. A few of them that try to embark on capital spending do so through loans from banks and bonds earlier negotiated, which must be serviced regularly at huge cost.

    With this stark reality, it has therefore, become highly imperative for the incoming Buhari administration to take a holistic view of the whole issue with a view to saving our fledgling democracy from an imminent collapse. Bureaucracy is meant to help drive the pace of development in a democracy. In any nation where bureaucracy has become the problem rather than the solution, democracy would certainly become endangered. This is where Buhari, and his team need to take decisive steps to save the country from what has become a chronic and nagging problem. As a stop-gap measure, one is actually canvassing that the incoming administration bails out the states that are owing excessive workers’ wages by offsetting such, and give them enough to pay pensions and gratuity. We have done it before.

    Unpaid salaries have always plagued civil administration in Nigeria. Military takeover, had always been the quick-fix, but with its recurring nature, it’s obvious we have not found the solution. Yes, government is always the biggest employer of labour; we cannot continue to bring idle hands into governments without a commensurate analysis of what is actually needed. This is to avert undue labour disputes that could cause needless troubles in the land. A sound employment policy would still address the problem of unemployment.

    Equally, the idea of the Federal Government entering into wage negotiations on behalf of the state governments should be discarded. Since the revenue base of each state differs, it would be inappropriate for both the Federal Government and the labour unions, to force state governments to pay their worker’s wages being paid by the Federal Government. Each state ought to employ and pay according to its capacity. Equally important is that labour unions must desist from the incessant act of demanding for an arbitrary wage increase. While the work force deserves better pay packages, government has responsibilities to the larger society through the provision of social amenities and infrastructures.

    In the same vein, governments across the land need to cut all avenues that open the door for wastes in governance. We have taken the issue of taxation too lightly in this country. No nation attains greatness without the adequate contributions of the citizens in the forms of taxes. We must start emphasizing our tax systems to make governments and citizens more fiscally responsible. Democracy is about bringing development to a greater number of the people. It is about human and capital development. It ceases to be democracy when just a few individuals or groups corner the commonwealth while the rest of the society languishes in abject poverty. Now that change has come, it is indeed the right time to get things done in the right way in order to get the right result.

    ‘Democracy is about bringing development to a greater number of the people. It is about human and capital development. It ceases to be democracy when just a few individuals or groups corner the commonwealth while the rest of the society languishes in abject poverty. Now that change has come, it is indeed the right time to get things done in the right way in order to get the right result’

     

    • Raji is Special Adviser, Information & Strategy, Lagos State.

     

     

  • Unpaid salaries

    The challenges ahead of the incoming General Muhammadu Buhari’s administration are indeed enormous, considering the poor state of the economy.

    Years of inept leadership at all levels have left the country’s economy in a bad shape and a lot has to be done by the Buhari administration to meet the very high expectations of the people looking up to it for real change and not endless transformation without real development.

    One of the urgent issues that have to be addressed is the irregular payment of workers at state and the federal levels which governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) drew attention to during a meeting with Buhari last week.

    Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, who led his counterparts to the meeting, confirmed that most states of the federation have not been able to pay salaries and even claimed that federal workers are being owed April salaries.

    Some states are owing as much as four months in a country where even those who are paid are barely able to meet their various obligations.

    The claim that federal workers are also being owed salaries have, however, been denied, though the Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, confirmed that the federal government borrowed N473bn  to pay salaries and overhead cost in four months.

    To solve the cash crunch problem and meet the expectations of voters, the APC governors urged the president- elect to consider providing a bailout out of the situation.

    Much as I am not opposed to a bailout if it is possible and can be accommodated under the federal expenditure, it is necessary to be sure of the real cause of the inability of the states to pay their workers.

    Contrary to claims by the states that poor management of the economy and dwindling federal allocations have denied them needed funds for recurrent expenditure like salaries, Okonjo- Iweala insists that the states should be blamed for their predicament.

    According to the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, “The 50 per cent drop in revenues simply means that salaries should be prioritised. The federal government should not be blamed for avoidable mistakes made at the state level.”

    The implication of Okonjo- Iweala’s refutal is that if the affected states have managed their limited resources better and prioritised payment of salaries, they would not have had backlog of unpaid salaries.

    To the extent that not all states are owing their workers’ salaries, Okonjo-Iweala’s defence cannot be totally dismissed. The dwindling federal allocation affects all states. If some states are able to pay, others should not have any excuse not to pay.

    While not all states can generate additional revenue from other sources, state governments can definitely manage their resources better.

    They need to cut down on excessive spending on projects and activities. State governors should be more concerned about the development of their states and the welfare of the people instead of funding their personal projects.

    How can some of the state governors owing their staff justify the huge amount spent on reelection campaigns and bagging of ‘worthless’ awards for the work they have not done?

    Unless state governments check corrupt practices, eliminate wasteful spending, improve on internal revenue generation and accept the reality that federal allocations may not increase soon, bailout by the federal government may not solve their problem.

    They must come up with a perfect formula for ensuring regular payment of workers, irrespective of the revenue available to them. There cannot be any acceptable reason for non-payment of workers’ salaries, majority of whom have no other sources of income. If the number of staff has become bloated over the years, there should be a gradual layoff of unproductive staff. The level of redundancy in government service is very high and should be checked with policies that promote efficiency.

  • Salaries: Ekiti workers to be screened before payment

    Salaries: Ekiti workers to be screened before payment

    Ekiti State civil servants  have to wait longer before receiving their April salary.

    This is because of the government’s decision to carry out a verification before workers receive their pay. The action is already causing disquiet in the civil service.

    The Nation learnt in Ado- Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday that the screening will take place between May 11 and 15.

    A panel set up to conduct the screening is expected to submit a report and no worker should expect any salary, until the panel turns in its report.

    All civil servants have been served copies of Staff Verification Forms from the Office of the Accountant General in which they are expected to supply some information and data.

    Information to be supplied include staff biometric identification number, ministry/agency, surname and other names, date of birth, date of first appointment, date of last promotion, grade level and step.

    Others are salary pay point, salary account details to include bank and account number.

    The form is expected to be endorsed with signature of the officer and date, thumb print, head of department’s signature and accounting officer’s signature.

    Workers willing to collect their April salary are expected to supply the screening panel with some documents.

    The documents include two certified passport-size photographs, birth certificate/declaration of age, letter of appointment, letter of last promotion, bio-data form and all educational certificates.

    A civil servant said: “A screening will hold before we collect our April salary and it has been scheduled for May 11 to May 15 after which the screening panel will submit a report to government.

    “The implication is that the earliest period workers can get their pay is late May because nobody can receive salary when verification is going on.

    “To add insult to injury, we are expected to even spend money to take passport photographs and make photocopies of credentials.

    “No worker can spend less than N500 to make all these materials available and this is happening at a period we have not been paid.”

  • NLC kicks as Kogi slashes workers’ salaries

    The Kogi State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened a showdown with the government, if it failed to rescind its plan to cut workers’ April salary.

    NLC’s Vice Chairman Suleman Abdullahi spoke yesterday after the State Working Committee meeting in Lokoja, the state capital.

    Abdullahi said workers were not invited to a discussion on the alleged shortfall in the state’s monthly allocation before the decision was taken.

    The union said it was given the government 24 hours to reverse the decision or face a showdown.

    Abdullahi said: “There are many avenues in which the government can augment the shortfall, especially the reduction in the number and salary of political appointees.”

    The NLC said if the government paid the money into workers’ account, it would be taken as bonus.

    It urged the workers to be calm and await the expiration of the ultimatum.

    But the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Mr. Jacob Edi, in a statement, yesterday in Lokoja, said the move was part of measures to meet the government’s commitment to the infrastructural development.

    The statement said the action followed dwindling federal monthly allocation to the state.

    It was learnt that the government received N3.7 billion last month and N2.5 billion in April, while its wage bill is N3.2 billion.

    Following the shortfall from its allocation, workers on Grade Level 7 and above, commissioners, special advisers and other appointed officials were affected.

    Workers on Grade levels 1-6 are not affected.

    Edi added: “With this development, the state government will pay salary to all workers, rather than owing them.”

     

  • Osun and the unpaid salaries: Matters Arising

    Political leaders, historians and policy makers would not forget the years between 2007 and 2009 in a hurry. The global recession that spread across the world during this period resulted in a sharp drop in international trade, rising unemployment and slumping commodity prices. Many multi-national companies were unfortunately swept away by the depressive economic gale.

    Across the world, economic theorists warned sternly that recovery might not appear until 2011 and that the recession would be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. One of such economists of this century, Paul Krugman, in his comment on the economic downturn described it as “seemingly the beginning of a second Great Depression.” Expectedly, governments and central banks in Europe and America responded with both fiscal and monetary policies to stimulate national economies and reduce financial system risks.

    In its findings on the cause of the meltdown, the report of the U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, in January 2011 described the crisis as avoidable.  The Commission listed some of the causes to include among others: widespread failures in financial regulation; dramatic breakdowns in corporate governance, including too many financial firms acting recklessly and taking on too much risk; key policy makers ill prepared for the crisis, lacking a full understanding of the financial system they oversaw and systemic breaches in accountability and ethics at all levels.

    Nigeria and indeed African countries were, to some extent, so lucky the depression wind did not blow across the black continent. We escaped the economic downturn. This however, is not to say that African countries and in particular Nigeria, did not taste the sourness of the economic downturn.

    Everyone thought Nigeria would learn from the global crisis. Today, the economic reality pointed otherwise. The operators of the country’s politics, monetary and economic policies have told the nation that they are either incompetent to run the nation or are too greedy and self-centred to run people-oriented government.

    Today, the economic crisis has left many states paralysed due to what many tagged the Federal Government’s financial recklessness and twin factors of corruption and poor economic policies. Workers across the 36 states have been groaning under this economic hardship owing to backlog of unpaid salaries, arrears as well as pensions.

    The situation in Osun is however slightly different as workers have been paid up to November while in some states worker are owed up to six months salaries. Osun is a different kettle of fish in the sense that the Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, was foresighted enough to prepare for a situation that the whole country currently found itself. On the federation account – Osun is actually in the 34th position on the rung of allocation ladder – collecting between N2bn to N4bn. And the state has a monthly salary wage of N3.6 billion to fulfill.

    Despite this huge bill and low allocation, the state under Aregbesola had always paid it’s workers’ salary as and when due, mostly between 24th and 26th of every month. Besides, it was during his tenure that the monthly pension to retirees jumped from N150 million to over N650 million, which the pensioners also collected promptly monthly. Not only this, workers also enjoyed thirteenth month salaries, first, half of their basic and in subsequent year, full basic salary.

    This smooth and orderly arrangement began to suffer mid July 2013 when allocation from the Federal Government abruptly nosedived. Allocation coming to Osun significantly reduced from N4 billion plus to about N2.5 billion. Federal Government blamed this reduction first, on theft of crude oil to the tune of 400, 000 barrel per day; but later attributed the dwindling fortunes to decline in oil price at the international market.

    Before Federal Government came out with these reason, Aregbesola and his Edo State counterpart, Adams Oshiohmole, had raised the alarm over the continuous reduction in states’ monthly allocation by the Federal Government. It got to a stage that some states, Benue for example, contemplated slashing workers’ salary so as to be able to meet its monthly financial obligation to workers. This was vehemently rejected. It led to workers been owed up to eight month salaries.

    Amidst this reversal in the fortune of the states, Osun was able to meet its financial commitments to its workers. This was made possible by Aregbesola’s prudence and foresight. When he assumed leadership in Osun, oil price was as it’s all time high and so extra fund was dripping from excess crude account. Aregbesola did not fritter this excess fund. He opened Omoluabi Conservative Fund and kept saving the accruing excess crude fund.

    As if he knew that after a period of surplus economic hardship would follow. When eventually sources of the excess crude oil suddenly dried up, Aregbesola had something to fall back on. For the next six months – that is well into mid 2014 – when most of the states could no longer meet their monthly statutory obligation, Aregbesola was drawing from his Omoluabi Conservative fund to augment the now significantly reduced allocation to pay salary.

    Rather than abate, the economic crisis showed no sign of abatement, forcing many states to economic stagnation. Yet Osun trudged on until the reserved fund emptied. Why Osun’s case is manageable today was as a result of financial prudence of the Aregbesola administration. The present predicament in Osun is not peculiar to the state; other states are affected. In some states, the situation is even worse.

    Osun debt profile has nothing to do with the prevalent economic conditions. The situation, brought about by Federal Government’s uncontrollable financial misappropriation unleashed this hardship on all states, both PDP and APC controlled. Like any other state in the federation, Osun went to the capital market for bond. The state did not however bite more that it could chew. Its debt profile is within its economic capacity. In terms of solvency, Osun is solid. For the avoidance of doubt and to expose the wanton lies of opposition, it is germane to refer to what the Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO) in the Presidency, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, said last year shortly before the August 9 governorship election.

    As usual, the opposition party had gone to town on its campaign of calumny that the state was indebted to the tune of N350 billion. But the DMO, shortly after, revealed that the state is one of the best states in the federation with public debt management. He also  noted that his office recognised Osun as the first to take the Sukuk, the Islamic bond. The state later won an award for this in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate. Nwankwo said at that forum: “We want to make sure that all segments of the society is captured in the bond market (Sukuk) because there are some groups of people or individuals who do not want to participate in ordinary bond because of interest. “Our office, DMO, and others are working hard to introduce Sukuk in Nigeria. We are delighted that Osun took the initiative and helped in introducing it in Nigeria. So, by that, Osun is one of the best states in public debt management.”

    The workers in Osun know that the governor is deeply concerned about their welfare. In fact, he is one of, if not the best, worker- friendly governor around. It thus stands to reason that in this adverse time, the workers would be standing firmly behind the governor so that they can jointly swim across the present murky economic water.

    •Owolabi, a journalist is a final year Law student at LASU, Ojoo.

  • Ajimobi orders payment of workers’ salaries

    Ajimobi orders payment of workers’ salaries

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has directed that all outstanding salaries be paid this week.

    Commissioner for Finance Zach Adelabu said salaries were delayed following the late payment of states’ allocation from the Federal Government.

    He said the state received the January allocation on February 26, which was a far cry from what was expected.

    Adelabu denied the opposition’s claim that local contractors were not being patronised.

    The commissioner said over 60 per cent of the contracts awarded by the administration were to local contractors.

    His words: “What did they know about capital flight? These people who are talking just ask them what they understand by the word capital flight. We have 33 local governments building roads that are having a direct and positive bearing on our people.

    “They are building schools; supplying furniture; yet they say that those that did these and are still working are not from here? The jobs that the local contractors cannot handle are the ones we are giving out to outsiders.

    “One of such projects is the Mokola flyover. And apart from that flyover and the one done by the military at Molete and Secretariat Bridge, no civilian administration has done such projects in the state.

    “We have expanded many roads in conformity with global standard and we are not stopping at that. Other areas as qualitative health care delivery, education, among others, are receiving attention.”

    Adelabu assured retired primary school teachers, who are yet to get their salaries, that the government was working to put smiles on their faces.