Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has appealed to the workers for more endurance, following the modulated salary being paid them currently, which he attributed to poor allocation and recession.
He assured that “the season of famine would be over by March next year.”
The governor stated this yesterday while addressing workers at a public service annual lecture organised by the public sector to commemorate his 7th anniversary in office.
While commending them for their perseverance, selfless service and sacrifice, despite the financial challenges of the state, Aregbesola stressed that it was not all workers that currently earn half salary.
He said only 28 percent of the workforce earn 50 percent of their salaries.
“You (the workers) have done so well that what is left to say is to thank you. There is a contract between you and us. It’s an abiding contract. The equivalence of what we have today is that we are in a state of war. When we remove the physical condition, what we have is an economic war situation and I have said this before,” he said.
“The reality is that its impossible to do more than we can. We stopped paying full salary in July 2015,” he added.
Aregbesola, who analysed how the state’s funds are expended, said the federal allocations, three tranches of Paris refund and internally generated revenue which his administration got since July 2015 till date totalled N61,315,234,80,33.
He said about N63,992,440,337,27 was used to pay salaries and pensions from July 2015 till date. He also disclosed that the total money received from the federal government as monthly allocations from July 2015 till date was N82,86,315,913,55k.
He added that N59,892,165,704,43 was deducted by the federal government from the source, leaving Osun with the net allocation of N22,204,150,209,12.
“No matter how much you hate me, ask yourself how have we been paying salaries? It has, indeed, been difficult paying salaries. It is not easy. Some people are trying to use workers against us. Our state requires extraordinary push to overcome its challenges. To our workers, I want to tell you that we need your further understanding, patience and perseverance,” Aregbesola said.
“Our season of famine will be over by March next year. You have demonstrated understanding. You have sacrificed sufficiently. Bear with us a little more in order to weather the storm together. Keep faith. Very soon, the storm will be over.”
The guest speaker, Dr Goke Adegoroye, who spoke on the challenges faced in the public service and efficient governance, tasked the workers on productivity and efficiency.
Adegoroye said: “Public service values can only be achieved in a working environment that engenders confidence and job deployment that would also enable the system to get the best from civil servants.” – The Sun.
