UNPAID WAGES: BRUTALIZING THE POOR IN OSUN STATE I am
beginning to be embarrassed by what is
going on in my home State of Osun. I am
beginning to feel ashamed that this is happening
to the common and the poor in the State of the
Living Spring. I am beginning to feel
compunctious and distressed by the sheer
heartlessness that is presently persisting in the
state. It is like the State of Osun is being
managed by bloodless beings that have no ability
to feel and understand the ramifications of owing
seven months salaries to workers of varying
grades and the pensioners in the state.
I am also being embarrassed as a journalist. Why
has it been difficult for this to be headlines in the
mainstream media in Nigeria? The primary
purpose of government is to cater and guarantee
the welfare and security of the governed. The
concomitant responsibility of the media is to
ensure that the government does not renege in
these responsibilities.
I understand that everything is now political in
Nigeria and in the Southwest especially where
speaking the truth has become a serious
challenge. But we have to draw the line where the
welfare, security and the survival of a big chunk
of our people is concerned. This does not mean
that a single life lost would not be tragic, but
what is concerned here is not a single life, it is
the lives of hundreds of thousands if not millions
of our people that are involved. It is emotionally
harrowing for any father that cannot put food on
the table for his family. It is psychologically
traumatizing for a mother to watch her children
go hungry when she has not been a loafer.
It is already an eyesore how someone could be
presiding over a government that has refused to
pay its workers for seven months and still
counting! It is tantamount to wickedness and
cruelty of the highest order for Osun State
government under Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji
Aregbesola to owe workers wages for seven
months when he has been receiving the state’s
federal allocation up to date excluding the month
of May 2015, which is at least a matter of public
record.
It would be recalled that before the Osun State
Governorship Election of August 9, 2014, Governor
Aregbesola owed about three months of wages to
the civil servants, teachers and the pensioners. It
was not until the defeat of his colleague, Kayode
Fayemi of Ekiti State in June that year that he
hurriedly found the money to pay the arrears to
alleviate the threat of losing re-election. This is
despite the fact that Aregbesola has been
collecting the State Allocation up until June of
that year.
What this scenario suggests is that Aregbesola
had the money to pay but did not want to pay?
Why this was the case is very difficult to fathom.
Is the same situation now repeating itself on a
larger scale? Is this a deliberate policy or what?
Does Aregbesola realize he is punishing the entire
people of the State? What kind of priority does he
have for him to allow the people of the State to
go hungry for seven months?
It is not an acceptable excuse that the allocation
has dwindled. There is no excuse that would
suffice under the sun for letting the workers, the
pensioners, the teachers – people who struggle
everyday to survive- to go hungry because they
are denied the fruits of their sweat. If Aregbesola
does not have a milk of human kindness flowing
in his vein, then it is possible that he does not
know the enormity of the damages he is foisting
on the state. If he does have some milk of
human kindness in him, then he ought to know
that seven harrowing months without wages
constitute economic, social and security threats
to the state and its people.
Yet, here is a man who lays claim to a degree of
activism with some bent to socialism from his
days in Ibadan Polytechnic. What kind of ideology
is this? What kind of “radicalism” is this? And
what kind of management is this? Any idea that
ridicules the place of man in the economic chain
is not worth its salt. Even red hot capitalism
knows that without man, capitalism would be
doomed. So, what excuses would a “socialist” like
Aregbesola have for povertizing the poor people
of Osun State?
The Chairman, Finance Commissioners Forum,
Mr. Timothy Odah, expressed concern over the
low revenue generated for the month of April. He
had said “the country is facing serious financial
and economic crisis.” He also pointed out that
“The Excess Crude Account is depleted already,
and you are aware that we had earlier resolved
that there should be a stop on the use of ECA to
augment what the three tiers of government
share monthly. So, the ECA is currently depleted
and it has gone beyond the level that we can get
anything reasonable from it.” But he also
criticized states owing salaries, saying the
governors of those states should have made the
payment of salaries their top priority after
collecting their monthly statutory allocation.
So, one is asking now, what is really going on
with the allocations that have been received on
behalf of the State? What is Aregbesola doing
with the “little” and “reduced” allocations he has
been given on behalf of the State of Osun? Where
are the monies going? What are the current
priorities of Aregbesola? Whatever such priorities
are, could there be greater priorities than the
welfare of the people? What are the more
important urgent needs in the state than the
welfare and the survival of the people, many of
whom are poor?
It is amazing that social critics like Femi Falana
are keeping quiet while this atrocity is going on.
Where is Professor Wole Soyinka who is a good
friend of the Osun State government? Is he
keeping quiet in the face of this tyranny? Where
are the Civil Society groups who constantly shout
in the press? Are their targets selective? Are they
also on the payroll of politicians too? Where are
the conscientious people in our society? Where
are the national and state leaders of the APC on
this matter? Where are the remnants of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour
Party in the State? Is everybody already bought to
the point that we are so unfeeling, wicked and
inconsiderate? Does this mean that we are ready
to sacrifice the welfare of our people for political
correctness?
What is going on in our media houses? What has
become of journalism for the ideal society that
we all seek? Is every journalist bought over? Why
is the Media not shouting itself hoarse on this
issue? Yes, I know that Osun State is not the only
one owing salaries in Nigeria. I know there are
other states owing varying number of months of
salaries across the country. But seven months is
a long time for an average man to do without any
income.
It is All Progressive Congress (APC) that is
magnifying the dangers of corruption in our
society and rightly so. It is the platform that they
used to convince Nigerians to vote for the party
at the national level. If you don’t pay a man for
seven months, won’t such a man look for how to
survive and preserve his own family by resulting
to corrupt practices? Is this the way APC is
planning to fight corruption? By turning everyone
into a potential thief? What is “Progressive” about
forcing the people to go on undeserved hunger
strike?
The state is dying gradually. Families are being
dislocated. Unemployment is no longer the
injurious mantra to sing about. Lack of wages is
the new vogue. The security of the state is under
serious threat. The economy of the state is at a
standstill. There is no purchasing power for the
greatest number of our people. Businesses are
panting because of lack of patronage. Market
women are wallowing in stagnancy occasioned by
this circumstance. Transporters are tottering from
the pangs of absentee passengers. Artisans are
reeling in redundancy. Teachers are no longer
teaching. Children are becoming certified
vagabonds. The workers are on strike, there is
not even any show of empathy through
negotiation and discussion. The State of Osun is
in comatose. This cannot continue to go on.
This is tyranny on the part of Governor
Aregbesola. This is really mean and inconsiderate.
It is high time for Aregbesola to redeem himself.
It is time to save the poor from agonies and
psychological pulverizing. It is time for him to
come down from the horse and feel the pains of
the poor people of Osun. He should stop spending
whatever money accruing to the state on any
other thing until further notice. The only priority
that is worth pursuing right now is the payment
of wages to civil servants, teachers and
entitlements to pensioners until things get better.
There is urgent need to put an end to this
charade and shenanigans.
By: BAYO LUKMAN