The Osun State government has
resolved to settle salary arrears, outstanding pensions and leave bonuses due
to its workforce and retired civil servants in the state with the sum of N8bn.
According to the Commissioner for
Information and Strategy, Mr Adelani Baderinwa in a statement released on
Thursday, the decision was reached at the state Executive Council Meeting,
which was attended by “Appropriation Committee members” headed by the frontline
labour leader, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu, alongside other labour leaders in the
State.
The meeting, which was presided
over by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola on behalf of
Governor Rauf Aregbesola agreed to the payment of arrears of July and August of
2015, balance of leave bonus of 2015 and July 2017 salary of state workers and
local government employees.
According to the statement, “the
commitment of over 80 per cent of the second Paris club refund is against the
50 per cent recommendation of the Federal Government for the payment of salary
of workers”.
The State Government, through the
Director of Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr Semiu Okanlawon had
recently announced the receipt of the sum of N6.3bn as the second tranche of
the Paris Fund refund.
However, the Governor, Ogbeni
Rauf Aregbesola has refuted the claim by civil servants and pensioners in the
state that several months of salary and pensions have not been paid, portraying
the state as the most indebted federating unit in Nigeria.
Aregbesola, who gave a keynote
address at a programme organised by the Police Community Relation Committee,
Osun State Axis on Wednesday said” there is need to educate Nigerians about the
salary situation in Osun, because some people have been saying that since my
administration is conscious about eradicating poverty why not pay workers’
salaries?
“Let me make a resounding correction that
despite the paucity of funds, it is only a section of workers on grade level 12
and above who receives painfully 50 percent of their gross salaries based on
agreement between the government and the labour union.
“So outside that category of
workers on grade level 12 and above, no other receives half of his or her
salaries and the workers in this category are just 20 percent of the state
workforce.
“Outside that, officers on levels
8-10 receive 75 percent of their salaries while officers on levels 7 and below
receive their full pay.
“Contrary to what the naysayers
claim about us, all workers in the state have received their salaries up to
June this year according to the payment scheme and agreement. The only
outstanding salary in Osun is the month we are in and by the grace of God
before the month end, every worker will earn their salary in line with the
agreement will have with workers.
“I am saying this to correct the
impression of those spreading falsehood and capitalising on this that we have
been up to our responsibilities as regards the payment of workers’ salaries in
accordance with the available resources.
“As we pay active workers, so we
pay pensioners. The only outstanding pay to pensioners is the gratuity and this
is due to workers who choose not to participate in the Contributory Pension
Scheme and therefore left service in 2011/2012.
“The amount required to service
that gratuity is about N5billion and we keep on telling them that once we have
the capacity to so do, we will surely pay them.
“One thing that is certain about
money is that once you don’t have it you can not use it. It doesn’t mean we
hate them; its because of limited resources to pay them and meet physical
expenditure.
“The pensioners in the state do
receive their pensions and what is outstanding is only the N5billion gratuities
that we can not afford for now,” Aregbesola said.
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