The Osun State government said it has uncovered a monumental debt in salaries, pensions, and insurance commitments incurred by the administration of Gboyega Oyetola, amounting to N76 billion.
Olawale Rasheed, spokesperson to Governor Ademola Adeleke, in a press statement issued to journalists in Osogbo on Thursday, quoted Bimpe Ogunlumade, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, to have said that while briefing officials of the new administration on the financial status of the state.
According to the statement, the disclosure was contrary to the claim by the former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola that he left N14 billion in cash for the new government, among other bogus claims that had been allegedly found to be an outright falsehood.
The breakdown of the salaries and pension-related liabilities as disclosed by the Permanent Secretary are as follow: Salaries – N29,875,191,128.64, Pension Arrears – N45,375,237,693.40 and Group Life Assurance Scheme – N554,644,028.97, totalling – N75,805,072,851.01
Rasheed added that “this is not the total debt left by the past administration as briefings on other sources of liabilities continue Friday.
Reacting to the allegation, Ismail Omipidan, media aide to Oyetola, said that the claim by Osun Government was not only outlandish but preposterous.
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“Our suspicion is that they have gone to dig up the arrears owed by their partner and collaborator, the settlement of which they used to hoodwink some workers ahead of July 16 governorship contest.
“For the umpteempth time, let me place it on record that for four years, we did not owe a dime in payment of salaries, while we made conscious efforts to reduce the backlog of pensions and gratuities we inherited. This also explains why for four years we did not witness any industrial dispute.
“By their figure, what it means is that we owed salaries for close to one year. Is that possible? The Labour Union can also bear testimony to the fact that we never left any salary unpaid in our time, just as we did not take any bank loan for four years.
“The new governor and his team want to ride on a populism mantra. Unfortunately, They do not understand the concept and philosophy of populism. That’s why they have resorted to blackmail.
“On the day of inauguration, the governor said it would take time for him to pay salaries because he needed to freeze government account to enable him to look at the books. Today, he is saying he frowns at delay in payment of salary. And for November salary, we actually signed off since November 20. I am sure we are in for more drama”, Omipidan said.
