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An Address By Thr Chairman Of The Apc,state Of Osun by Kunlexity(m): 1:34pm On Jun 22, 2015 |
AN ADDRESS BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE APC, STATE OF OSUN, PRINCE ADEGBOYEGA FAMODUN ON THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN OSUN Gentlemen of the press, You are welcome. We have called this meeting to intimate you of developments in our state and correct certain misconceptions on the state of affairs. On Sunday June 14, one of the leaders of opposition in this state called a meeting of his associates at the party’s secretariat in Osogbo. The declared purpose of the meeting was to strategize and reposition their party for future elections having been defeated in the governorship election of last year and their woeful performance in the general election of this year in Osun and the country as a whole. On getting to the meeting, however, the participants were told to brace up and make the state ungovernable; that the only way they could make any impression in future elections would be to make the state ungovernable by capitalising on the delay in payment of salaries by the state government. Their plan, starting from today, is unleash mayhem and cause disorder and anarchy. The law enforcement agencies have read the riot act to them and we believe they are prepared to meet force with force if it comes to that. We should make it abundantly clear that opposition is an integral part of the democratic system. We were once in opposition and we believe that constructive engagement by the opposition is needed for a good democratic system and so we support a live and let’s live accommodating multiparty political system. However, we should draw a fine line between the overbearing, unreasonable and even nuisance value of opposition on one hand from subversion, criminality and treason on the other. The lawlessness of the past that was the hallmark of PDP, that almost brought the country on its knees, has no place in the new Nigeria that birthed on May 29 with the inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as president. Let no one be in doubt, our party came to power in Osun through popular election and we will use popular support to defend our mandate.We are determined to legitimately protect our mandate, protect our members and safeguard the safety of all citizens in the state. The delay in payment of salaries to workers in the state is unfortunate and most regrettable. The workers are our people. They are our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends and relation. They are part of the people who freely gave us the mandate to govern and more importantly, they are also part of the people of the state over whom we govern and to whom we have responsibility – for their welfare and protection. What concerns them therefore concerns us and will stand with them, fight for them and go to any length to find solution to the current problem of delay in paying their salaries. We are comforted that Governor Rauf Aregbesola has promised to pay them by the end of the month. By the grace of God, he will not fail. However, the circumstances that led to the delay in salaries are not the making of the state government. Our government has a track record of taking care of its workers and would have averted this ugly development, if it could do so. Don’t forget that for four consecutive years since December 2010, the government has paid 13th month salary to workers and has upwardly reviewed monthly pension from N200 million to N520 million. It has upgraded housing and car loans to workers and resuscitated overseas training to the senior cadre. On top of this, as far back as 2011, salaries were paid on or before the 25thof every month before this present crisis. It is on record that the Aregbesola’s administration for the first time standardised the payment of pension with the introduction of the biometric electronic record system through which pension drops in the accounts of retirees without stress at the end of every month, a feat which no previous administration could perform. While we make no bones on the state government’s responsibility to pay its workers, the blame lays squarely at the feet of the last PDP led federal government that presided over evisceration of the economy in the last 16 years and actually accelerated the pace of the disaster that hold the nation’s economy by the throes for the past six years. When disaster struck in July 2013 when allocation to the states dropped by 40 per cent, our own Governor Aregbesola was the lone voice in the wilderness that alerted the nation to this disaster then (Refer Sunday Vanguard Feb 16, 2014). Now, allocation has dropped by nearly 80 per cent. For instance, at the peak of statutory allocation to Osun, the state got N5.5 billion in February 2013 but this has dropped to N466 million by April 2015. On the other hand, while salaries and emoluments was N1.4 billion when we came in November 2010, it stands today at N3.6 billion, following the increase in minimum wage in 2012. We were told by the Goodluck Jonathan led PDP administration in 2013 that the stealing of 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily (in the full glare of law enforcement agencies) was responsible for the fall in allocation. That was before the crash in the price of oil almost a year later. However, the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, now the Emir of Kano got into trouble and was unceremoniously removed from office when he alleged that $20 billion oil money was not remitted into the Federation Account by the NNPC. That is roughly equivalent to N4 trillion. A forensic audit carried out by Price Waterhouse Cooper later confirmed this allegation, although attempts were made to cover it up. It has also been recently revealed that the Auditor General of the Federation issued an audit query to the NNPC over unremitted N2.3 trillion. This allegation was supported by another former governor of the CBN, Prof Charles Soludo. Again, another fraud perpetrated by the Jonathan administration has been uncovered. This involves the sales of oil production licence which was sold for $1.4 billion out of which only $100 million was remitted into the Federation Account. Secondly, while the former Minister of Finance claimed that the total Excess Crude Revenue from 2011 to 2014 was N2.92 trillion, independent investigation and record put the true amount at $92.7 billion (N18.5 trillion).It is this litany of frauds and financial malfeasance by that administration that is responsible for the precipitous drop in the distributable pool of the federation account and which subsequently affected allocation to states, before the crash in oil price compounded the situation. This is why 23 states, at the last count, has been unable to pay salaries. It is not an Osun problem and those who are fixated on Osun or Aregbesola alone are living in denial. The insinuation is being made that the government has been profligate in its spending, and this was responsible for the present cash crunch. This is unfounded and unsupported by the facts on ground. First, as I said earlier, our wage bill shot up from N1.4 billion in a month to N3.6 billion, so in four year, between Nov 2010 and April 2014, we have spent N120.4 billion on salaries and emoluments out of the total allocation (including all sources) from Abuja of N177.5 billion (68%). Within the same period, our IGR efforts raked in N27.8 billion while our recurrent expenditure stood at N96.7 billion. In summary, our total money from all sources was N205.3 billion while salaries plus recurrent gulped N217.1 million. This gives us a deficit of N11.8 billion. Therefore, without capital projects, paying salaries plus our recurrent expenditure alone are at a deficit. This puts a lie to the insinuation that it was capital projects that put the government into trouble. But still, we were criticised for embarking on human development and welfare programmes instead of concentrating on paying workers salaries alone. This is asinine. When we campaigned for election, we promised the people a six point integral action plan. This is our covenant with the people and we must deliver on it. It is our commitment to our social contract with the people that drove us to construct roads, build schools, provide free meals for pupils, provide Opon Imo, deflood the state, take care of the vulnerable groups like senior citizens, disabled persons and the destitute and engage the youths in public works. On the question of helicopter, the opposition recently gave an unsolicited advice to the state government, asking it to sell its surveillance helicopter. It was an uninformed call. You will all recall the spate of armed banditry in the state prior to our coming. At the time, inter-state bandits roved freely as they seize the wealthy and especially financial institutions by the jugular, making banks to close abruptly and remain shut for business for days. People sleep with one eye open. At our coming, the state government put many security measures in place, including the purchase of armoured personnel carriers (APC) and aerial surveillance helicopter in 2013. The helicopter cost N500 million and it was paid for in five instalments. With these measures in place, you now know the difference. However, the helicopter was practically disabled by the federal government itself. Before the surveillance machine was bought, the governor built a state-of-the-art Call Centre that will operate with a special security code. The FG-controlled NCC refused till today to provide the special code for the helicopter to be linked with ground equipment for surveillance. Thus the surveillance helicopter was effectively disabled. The chopper was however put on lease and it is making money for the state and only recalled for use as the need arises. It is one of the sound financial decisions made by the government. We cannot but marvel at the ignorance and mischief of those calling for the sale of the helicopter and the quality of the thinking of those asking government to dispose of an instrument being used for the security of the citizens. On the cargo airport; it is one of the brilliant ideas of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola intended primarily fancy stuff. There is no airport like it in Nigeria, and when completed, it would be the 4th of its kind in the African Continent. The other countries where cargo airport with a Hanger for repairing and maintaining planes exists are Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa. But what many people deliberately live in denial of (in spite of repeated explanations by the governor) is that the airport project is being done in partnership with the Nigerian Air force. Only small minds and short-sighted people would condemn such a project because if it were useless to Nigeria and the state, the FG would not have allowed the Air force to participate in it. While we hold the workers in the highest esteem and recognise as sacrosanct the government’s obligation to pay their salaries, they are not the reason of state, the people are. Workers are the sharp instrument of the government for exercising its mandate to govern and not the object of state worship. At any rate, workers constitute less than one per cent of the population; how can we then spend more than 90 per cent of state resources on them? We owe workers to seek their welfare, but we equally owe the larger society on whose mandate we govern the same obligation. We must strike the right balance, but it is also necessary that we all have the right perspective of these things. We congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari for the cool, calm and collected manner he has steered the ship of state and we are confident he will lead us to safe harbour even as we navigate turbulent seas where the former captain had left the ship. We appeal to him also to strongly consider a bailout for state affected. After all, if banks can be bailed with more than N4 trillion, it makes good sense to bail out states whose impact are felt by millions of the people directly and indirectly. We also appeal to all residents and business concerns in the state to go about their lawful duties calmly, without fear. The security agencies have given solemn assurances that threat from whichever section will be contained and decisively quashed. I thank you for your time. |
Re: An Address By Thr Chairman Of The Apc,state Of Osun by Nobody: 1:36pm On Jun 22, 2015 |
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