Osun is one of the 22 states in Nigeria owing salary arrears and with government revenue dwindling as a result of falling oil prices, there appears no hope of them being paid soon. Civil servants now have to eke out an existence doing all sorts of menial jobs just to make ends meet.
Sympathising with the plight of the civil servants, Reverend Elisha Ogundiya, the chairman of the Osun State chapter of Can, called on church leaders to rally aid to assist them. He added that that the church should go beyond feeding congregations with spiritual food especially at this time but should also rally round to offer them succour.
Reverend Ogundiya said: “I talked about Christians and Muslims and others who are passing through hardship in Osun State because of the non-payment of their salaries for months. Workers are passing through hardship and some who have retired have died because of lack of money to take care of themselves.
"We Christians have to emulate the action of the Good Samaritan in the Bible who assisted somebody he should not assist ordinarily, so, we should assist our brothers and sisters. I urge church leaders and local government chairmen to go back home contribute food and other items to assist all these people who are in need."
Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola, has described as very painful the inability of some states to pay workers’ salaries. He stated that it was disheartening for people to work and such work failing to translate into wages, saying it was a harrowing experience for both the workers and the government.
He, however said the challenge of unpaid salaries should not be seen as opportunities by some to pillory either his government or any other facing the same challenges. According to him, though the regime of unpaid salary was tragic and painful, all stakeholders must gloss over the challenges it created so as to find a lasting solution to it.
Describing the situation as an economic strategy, he attributed the current misfortune to gross mishandling of the nation’s economy by the last regime of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Governor Aregbesola stated that the unchecked oil theft under the PDP in which the nation was losing 400,000 barrels per day, culminated in drastic reductions of oil prices in the international market.
However, Reverend Ogundiya said: “To the governments, we are appealing to them to look for whatever means will make life beautiful for these people. We know that the problem is not peculiar to Osun State alone but this is lingering too much, so the state government should do something urgently to put smiles on the faces of the workers.”
Governor Aregbesola's critics have asked him to sell his official helicopter and use the proceeds to clear some of the salary arrears. Other measures the governor is said to be considering including scrapping free meals in primary schools to help save some cash.
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