The Osun State chapter of the Social Democratic Party on Monday asked Governor Rauf Aregbesola to pay the outstanding salaries of the state’s workers without further delay.
The SDP, in a release made available to our correspondent in Osogbo by its spokesperson, Mr Taofik Alabi, warned the governor against diversion of the bailout the state received from the Federal Government to other uses other than the payment of the workers’ salary arrears.
The party alleged that Governor Aregbesola had been having several meetings with the leadership of the workers in the state with a view to persuading them to forfeit their salary arrears.
The statement reads: “The Osun State governor, last two weeks, summoned the labour leaders in the state, comprising the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) to a meeting, discussing the way out of the settlement of the over one year salaries arrears owed the state workers.
“At the meeting, it was discovered that the governor had already prepared a document in form of MoU to be signed by the labour leaders without taking any recourse to their input in reaching such a memorandum.
“The memorandum of understanding contained a proposal to the state labour to forfeit their 14-month unpaid salaries, allowances and leave bonuses of 2014, 2015, 2016 and part of 2013.”
The SDP, therefore, urged the state government to pay the workers’ outstanding salaries, stressing that the work force had been thrown into hardship since the governor refused to pay their salaries.
“Towards the end of 2015, the Federal Government released a huge sum of N34.9 billion to the Osun State Government as bailout to settle the unpaid salaries of ten months of the state workers. We, therefore, advise that the bailout should not be diverted but to be used to pay the workers,” the statement said.
But the governor had, on several occasions in the state, promised to pay the worker’s outstanding salaries, while blaming the economic recession battling the country for his inability to pay the workers their full salaries.
