Source:- http://www.exclusivepp.com.ng/paying-political-appointees-half-salaries-osun-govt/

The Osun State Commissioner for Finance, Bola Oyebamiji, said all political appointees in the state were being paid 50 per cent of their salaries.

He said in a statement that the move was in line with the modulated salary structure introduced in the state government to tackle the problem of irregular payment of salaries.

He said the new structure was designed to enable the state government to improve the welfare of the citizens and boost economic growth.

According to him, the new system has been adopted by the administration to systematically clear the backlog of unpaid salaries and to ensure that the government continues to pay salaries as and when due.

The statement read in part, “With the modulated salary structure, workers on levels one to seven, who constitute 67 per cent of the workforce, are paid full salaries, while those on grade levels eight to 10, who make up 25 per cent of the workforce, receive 75 per cent of their salaries.

“Workers on grade levels 12 to 17, a ‘mere’ eight per cent of the workforce, as well as all political appointees, receive 50 per cent of their salaries.

“Governor Rauf Aregbesola, though unhappy to pay the modulated salary to the workers, is compelled by the state’s current financial reality to adopt it to tackle the menace of irregular payment of salaries.

“The modulated salary is also necessitated by the desire of the administration to provide massive infrastructure, develop the state economically and transform Osogbo (Osun State capital) into a modern state capital.”

Stating what was responsible for the situation, the commissioner stated that like many other states in the country, the wage bill of the state rose from N1.1bn in 2010 to N2.2bn in 2012 when the Federal Government negotiated a unilateral and blanket minimum wage on behalf of all states.

According to Oyebamiji, by October 2014, when the price of crude oil crashed, the state, like others, started having a backlog of unpaid salaries.

He said many states became fiscally unstable due to shortfall in federal allocations, hence the state’s revenue projections suffered a setback, affecting its capacity to repay its debts.

Source:- http://www.exclusivepp.com.ng/paying-political-appointees-half-salaries-osun-govt/

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