The Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS) has warned Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, Osun State Governor, against shortchanging the workers and retirees alike from the payment of salaries and pension arrears upon receipt of a sum of N11,744,237,793.56 as part of the refunds from the Paris Club loans deductions through the Federal Government, insisting that Mr. Aregbesola was insensitive to the plight of the workers and retirees in the State.

The group alleged that Mr. Aregbesola had planned to divert the larger percentage of the recently released Paris Club loans deductions as the state government under his watch had earlier diverted N16.3 billion out of N35 billion bailout funds released to the state in August 2015 for the payment of backlog of workers’ salaries and pension.

The group called on anti-graft agencies to monitor the disbursement of the newly released Paris Club Loans funds.

It maintained that the Federal Government had advised states with the backlog of salaries and pension arrears to use the newly released Paris Club loan deduction to clear the arrears but the reverse was the case in the Osun State “as Aregbesola’s government had concluded

arrangement to pay the salaries of workers on grade Level 1-7, 8-10 and 12 and above, 100%, 75% and 50% of September, October and November respectively as from Monday December 19th, 2016. While affected retirees would be paid N1,000-N20,000, N20,001-N80,000 and N80,001 as 100%, N75% and 50% of pensions respectively.”

Chairman of the group, Comrade Adeniyi, Alimi Sulaiman, after the end of the year extended meeting of the Civil Society Organization (CSO) at the weekend, where all its members across Local Government Areas of the state were in attendance, stated that the state government under Aregbesola’s watch were economical with the truth about the allocation being received in the state in recent time, alleging that the state government spent only N1.2 billion for the payment of half salaries and pensions, and not the acclaimed N1.7billion.

The Chairman further stressed that the available resources in the state treasury including the acclaimed balance of N3.362 billion bailout funds by the State Account-General, could pay the four months full salaries of workers and retirees alike from September to December, 2016 and the state government would still have more funds for its acclaimed moribund infrastructural projects as well as the one to be shared and diverted illegally, urging the affected workers and retirees in the State to ensure the collection of full salaries as the finances of the state have been improved in line with the Labour/Government agreement in 2015.

The group rejected the current imposed payment formula of the state government which was against the proposed formula of Comrade Hassan Sunmonu led-Revenue Apportionment Committee, including, the payment of balance of Leave Bonus from October to December 2014, challenging Mr. Aregbesola to disclose the huge amount of funds including; Ecological funds, Budget Support funds, Local Government funds, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) funds and State Allocations accrued to the state from the Federation Account from August 2016, aside the N11.7 billion Paris Club Loan deduction.

•Governor Aregbesola.