Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has paid part of the eight month salaries owed to workers in the state.
Reports from the state reveal that salaries for March, April and May were paid in full but the governor did not offset the part owed from January and February.
However, workers are very unhappy due to feedback from labour leaders in the state.
According to a civil servant in the state who requested not to be named for fear of being sacked, independent calculations by workers following the recent screening in the state showed that the wage bill of the state is N2.2 billion and they believe the governor should be able to conveniently pay the salaries owed.
So far, about N10 billion is believed to have been spent on salaries by the governor who has allegedly fixed N20 billion out of the bailout fund released by the federal government.
Governor Aregbesola was said to have told labour leaders that there was no way he would continue with the current wage bill. He reportedly gave them two options; either he carries out mass retrenchment or start deducting a particular percentage (15% is being proposed) from workers’ salary. Labour are negotiating with the governor on this and have advised workers that in the meantime, they should manage whatever they have as it is not certain any more salaries will be paid this year.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has promised to monitor how states that got bailed out by the FG spend the money. Workers in the state will be hoping this happens. Osun got N34.988 billion as bailout fund from the Federal government.
