A former Head of Service in Osun State, Mr. Segun Akinwusi, has blamed alleged financial recklessness by the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola for its inability to pay workers for over six months.
Akinwusi said this in an interview with our correspondent in Osogbo on Tuesday. .
He said that rather than blaming President Goodluck Jonathan, Aregbesola should blame himself for plunging the state into financial crisis.
The former HOS admitted that allocation accruing to the state had reduced, but stressed that this was not an enough reason to deny workers of their wages for more than half of a year.
Akinwusi, who contested the last governorship election against Aregbesola on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, said that the administration borrowed much more than its ability to repay.
He said, “They are quick to blame Jonathan for non-payment of workers for six months. Only the naive can believe them. Are they not getting allocation from Abuja? They are collecting allocation on monthly basis.
“They borrowed so much. They borrowed more than their capacity to repay. The governor appointed an average of two commissioners for each ministry; they called the second commissioners special advisers but they all get the same salaries with the commissioners.
“They should not blame Jonathan for their inability to pay, they should blame themselves. They are reckless. They borrowed twice the value of road projects they are executing. Work has since stopped now.”
He said that there was no hope in sight for the people of the state, alleging that the current administration in the state had mortgaged the future of the state.
According to Akinwusi, it will take the state almost 25 years to recover from the financial crisis it has been plunged into “by the recklessness of this administration.”
Efforts to speak to Aregbesola’s media aide, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, proved abortive as calls put across to him were not picked and a text message sent to him was yet to be responded to at the time of filing this report.
However, the governor had blamed the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government for the dip in the oil revenue accruing to the nation. He said this was the reason the wage bill was more than the allocation received from the federal level.
Aregbesola said, “The PDP-led Federal Government has foisted double tragedy on the people through lack of transparency in oil revenues. – Punch.
