Aregbesola
A civil society group in Osun State, under the aegis of Justice Now Foundation (JNF), has called on civil servants in the State to bear with the state government on their delayed salaries.
Workers in Osun State have not been paid for more than seven months, a development that has attracted nationwide criticisms.
However, the group warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), labour unions and political organizations, not to over-dramatise the situation in the state over unpaid salaries.
According to the group, making it look like war-torn Somalia or Rwanda was everything but untrue.
The Foundation noted that almost two thirds of the states of the federation, and not only Osun, were currently battling with this ‘economic epidemic’.
It, therefore, wondered why Osun labour groups and its allies tried to misrepresent the facts and make Osun a scapegoat.
The group said, “It is highly surprising and embarrassing to us the way labour in Osun has taken this whole situation as if only the state is weighed down by the salary problems.
“As at last count, Kogi, Benue and Plateau are some of the states owing workers even more months than Osun.
“And we have been monitoring events in the state and seeing how the government is running around to make sure the whole situation normalises.
“The fact ought to be stated the way they are: That government owed the workers and government is now working round the clocks to make sure the salaries are promptly paid.
“This is the naked truth of the situation?. But Labour in Osun, by calling churches, mosques, Dangote, Otedola, National Emergency Management Agency and others to come to the rescue of the state, amounts to mere exaggeration and over-dramatisation of the situation at hand.
“If anything, all these make one come to the conclusion that it is no longer the plight of the unpaid workers that is the concern of some people but the selfish gains of blackmailing a government.
“It is a fact that government has promised to pay the salaries. What should be the task before all of us should be to monitor the process until the government fulfill its promise and not capitalise on the predicament of the Osun people to be on the pages of newspapers”.
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