Osun state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has urged the National Emergency Management Authority, NEMA, to make relief materials, particularly food, available to Osun workers following the non-payment of their salaries for the past seven months.
The party’s Director of Media and Strategy, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, made the appeal yesterday in a statement issued in Osogbo, the state capital, where he praised the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, for rallying support for the affected workers. He however insisted that the mobilisation of aid for the state workers can not be left for CAN alone to bear.
The PDP, in the statement, further directed its members to begin contributing foodstuff to the party’s secretariats in all local government areas of the state for onward distribution to the workers.
According to the statement, “The situation in the state requires much more than what religious bodies can cope with. We are calling on the National Emergency Management Authority, Red Cross Society and well- meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the workers in the state.
“The situation of unpaid salaries is so bad that many of those in the employment of government have now resulted to begging to feed their family while many have attempted to hang themselves.
“On Wednesday, a man slumped and died in broad daylight at the popular Olaiya Junction, Osogbo, after begging for money to buy drug, albeit unsuccessfully from the traders around and the passersby.
“The man openly shouted that his relatives that usually give him money to buy drugs have not been paid salaries for months. The sad aspect of the story is that the corpse was left at the spot where he foamed and bled through the mouth for a day before his remains was evacuated.
“We also have it on good authority that many of these helpless workers have been evicted from their rented apartment while many others are said to be considering suicide.”
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