OYO State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has said that the accumulated salaries owed the state workers had been reduced from about N17 billion to about N11 billion, assuring that the outstanding arrears would be resolved by the end of October. Governor Ajimobi disclosed this while briefing journalists at the Governor’s Office, Ibadan, on the efforts to address the state’s indebtedness to its workforce. Ajimobi who announced the approval of payment of about N2bilion to workers in the lower cadre, stated that the challenge was about N2.5 billion debt on the government’s monthly wage bill. “Our average monthly salary is between N5.2 billion and N5.5 billion, whereas what we get from the Federal Government inclusive our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is about N3 billion. So, every month, we have a deficit of about N2.5billion.”
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“The last meeting I attended, it was said that the Federal Government will assist the states. However, the Federal Government was able to give an average of about N2 billion to states. Oyo State got about N2.3 billion whereas our average monthly salary is between N5.2 billion and N5.5 billion. As of that time, we owed workers a total bill of over N17 billion.
“The Federal Government only gave us about N2.3 billion which was just the distribution of Liquefied Natural Gas fund accruable to the states. So, there was no bailout. Nevertheless, we have seen some inflow in our revenue, and till date, we only owe about N13 billion. And from that N13 billion, I just approved another N2 billion for payment for the lower cadre, bringing the money down to about N11 billion.
“We just paid March salary. I just approved another payment for the junior staff and hopefully in another week or so, we will get another batch of funding, which will clear April. I assure workers that within the next three months, we will be done with the issue of outstanding salaries. I am sure that with the arrangement wwith Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where Federal Government says it will take over our debt and stop deductions from source, our financial stability will be ensured.”
Meanwhile, Chairman, state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Waheed Olojede, has urged the state government to remain optimistic about receiving the bailout fund in the coming days and use the fund to pay the outstanding salaries.
Olojede stated that it was unconceivable for the already burdened workers in the state to wait for another three months. “Workers are already groaning and they are dying. It is already uncomfortable for workers. If you want such workers to wait for the next three months, it is like the government wants workers to be in their coffin before they are paid.
“Moreover, it has been reported in the media that the bailout fund is ready and would soon be disbursed. The government should remain optimistic about receiving the bailout. If the bailout is released today and it can clear the outstanding arrears to include salaries, pension, subventions to the judiciary and tertiary institutions, why do we have to wait for three months? Once the money is released, it should be used to clear all outstanding arrears. Three months is too long from now. We urge the government to remain optimistic to get the bail out.”
“Moreover, it has been reported in the media that the fund is ready for disbursement in the next two weeks. Such fund, when released, should not be diverted. It should be used for the purpose for which it is meant which is payment of outstanding salaries.”
