Former governor of Osun State, Adegboyega Oyetola has dismissed claim that his administration left N76 billion liability in salary and pension arrears behind for his successor, Ademola Adeleke.
Malam Olawale Rasheed, the Spokesperson of Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Osun, had in a statement on Thursday in Osogbo said the government has uncovered a monumental debt in salaries, pensions and insurance commitments incurred by the administration of Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, amounting to N76 billion.
He said the revelation was made by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Bimpe Ogunlumade, while briefing officials of the new administration on the financial status of the state on Thursday.
He listed the liabilities to include: Salary: N29,875,191,128.64; Pension Arrears: N45,375,237,693.40; Group Life Assurance Scheme: N554,644,028.97.
The spokesperson said the disclosure was contrary to the claim by Oyetola that he left N14 billion in cash for the new government.
But Oyetola, in a statement through his spokesperson, Ismail Omipidan, insisted that he did not owe a dime in salaries for the four years he was in power.
“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,” Omipidan said.
He also claimed that his administration made efforts to reduce the backlog of pensions and gratuities it inherited.
“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 the 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’s salary, we actually signed off on November 20th. I am sure we are in for more drama.”
