The Rauf Aregbesola-led government in Osun State has explained how it spent the first tranche of the Paris Club Loan Refund it got late last year.
According to a statement issued from the government circle, the state government expended a sum of N11.744,237,793.56 to pay workers salaries, pension and leave bonus for the last four months in the year 2016.
The statement which quoted the state’s Accountant General, Mr. Akintayo Kolawole said in December 2016 alone, the total sum of N13,645,546,673.04 was used by the government to clear salaries, leave bonuses and pension arrears for four months.
The main opposition party in the state, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) had been criticising the way the money allocated to the state from the Paris Club Loan Refund was spent alleging that the money had been diverted and not use for the purpose it was meant.
Specifically, the opposition alleged that the money was used to pay some contractors handling some developmental projects while the rest was used to finance some of the debt owed by the state.
But the Accountant General declared that a sum of N11,744,237,793.56 was actually received from the federal government in November 2016 as first tranche of the Paris Club Refund.
Kolawole disclosed that the State Revenue Apportionment Committee headed by Comrade Hassan Sunmonu involving Labour unions agreed that the money should be spent on clearing of workers salary arrears.
According to him, “The revenue apportionment committee agreed that the Paris refund be used in paying salaries and that the sum of N1.9bn be added by the state government from the Internal Generated Revenue to augment salary payment to local government workers.”
On how a total of N13.6bn was used in paying salary arrears, Mr Kolawole stated that, “the sum of N8,519,437.233.43 was paid out as salaries for September, October, November and December. Similarly, the sum of N924,676,305.24 was paid out as leave bonuses for the four months, while the sum of N2,496,605,100.64 was paid in pensions for the same period.”
Explaining how the state spent above the N11.74bn received as Paris Club Refund, the accountant general noted that the sum of N1,704,828,033.73 was transferred to the ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs for the payment of salaries at that level.
When contacted, State Chairman of the Triangular Pensioners Association, Prince Rotimi Adelugba confirmed all pensioners in the state received four months of pension arrears as agreed with the state government in December 2016.
He however commended the state government for making workers’ welfare its priority.
Packaged by Bunmi Oladejo
