OSUN SET'S JUNE DEADLINE FOR PAYMENT OF SALARIES

The Osun State Government said on Sunday that workers will begin to collect their salaries at the end of June to end their seven-month travails of unpaid salaries and emoluments.

But the Peoples Democratic Party in the state has noted that the task of unpaid salaries was beyond the present administration in the state as admitted by the governor, Rauf Aregbesola.

The party then called on the governor to immediately convene a meeting of political stakeholders in order to find ways of ending the crisis.

The governor’s spokesperson, Semiu Okanlawon,however said the governor was on the right track and “before the end of June, workers would be paid their salaries.”

He said Mr. Aregbesola wanted an Osun that is self-reliant, and independent of federal allocations, asserting that the dream brought about rapid development in his first tenure.
“Within his first term, his government had caused investors to bring up companies such as the Omoluabi Garment Factory, Osogbo, Adulawo/RLG Technology company in Ilesa.

“The government has also commenced aggressive drive for the development of the solid mineral sector with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with an Australian mining firm, Andalusian Mining Industry.
“It was in the same vein that the idea of an airport for aircraft maintenance was conceived,” Mr. Okanlawon said.
However, the PDP said a stakeholders meeting that will involve members of all registered political parties in the state was necessary to examine the issues of unpaid salaries.

The party’s Director of Media and Strategy in the state, Diran Odeyemi, said one of the reasons Governor Aregbsola was finding governing the state a task beyond his capacity was because he shut out quality advice from non-APC members who were stakeholders in the state
.
“We said it before that because Ogbeni Aregbesola never lived in Osun before becoming the governor he has no idea of the needs of the people of the state,” Mr. Odeyemi said.
“Aregbesola did not care about our advice as major stakeholders because we are in PDP, no Osun indigene home and abroad is happy with the mess we are in as a result of non payment of salaries.”

He said now that the governor had reached his limit in managing affairs of Osun and openly confessed this, it was necessary that the PDP offered a helping hand in form of quality advice to the administration.