On Tuesday, Governor Rauf Aregbesola stated that a total of N14.2bn was paid out by his government in less than two weeks, just before the end of December 2016.
Aregbesola stated this when the State government officially declared the year 2017 open for activities, through an interdenominational thanksgiving session at the Government Secretariat, Osogbo.
Aregbesola, who laced his speech with songs of praises to God in Islamic and Christian ways, said with what befell the state before the close of 2015, it was gratifying that the state bounced back in what can now be felt as relief from the hardship of last year.
He said the ability of his government to pay workers salaries from September, October, November and December in less than a record two weeks period was a huge relief.
The governor said it was in September 2014 that he had to call on workers to decide whether they wanted a staff reduction or payment of salaries according to available resources at the time when the impact of the economic hardship in the country began to bite harder.
He said in July 2015, the new Federal Government which had been sworn in May, 2015, listened to some of the solutions proferred to the national revenue crisis.
According to him, when the state got N34.9bn bail out loan in 2015, there were controversies on how to disburse the funds as some people insisted that the whole funds should be spent at once.
“I knew that with the magnitude of the economic crisis facing Nigeria, it would have been suicidal to expend the whole bailout loan at once without saving a portion of it which eventually bailed us out till around February,” Aregbesola said”.
The governor recalled that the development necessitated the constitution of the state’s Revenue Apportionment Committee headed by labour veteran, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu which he said made it possible for the state to pay salaries till February 2016.
He said the arrival of the Paris Club deductions refunds which made N11.7bn available to the state had brought some relief, noting that the state would, however, need to intensify its efforts towards self-sustainance.
“We are grateful that we are getting over our hardships which is an indication that the new year would be better,” he added.
The governor while expressing appreciation to workers who showed understanding, appealed to others to follow the trends.
He said: “LAUTECH lecturers have insisted they would not cooperate with the government despite their knowledge of the economic conditions we face. We appeal to them to accept our fate at the moment for the sake of the students’ future.”
He expressed optimism that there were signs that the recession would come to an end by June this year.
While appealing to all stakeholders to look inward, Aregbesola charged traditional rulers to promote agriculture in their respective domains, just as he appealed to them to engage in vigorous campaigns for payment of taxes.
