We have paid salaries in 2017, says Oyo

The Oyo state government says it has paid workers the salaries of January and February, 2017.

Toye Arulogun, commissioner of information, culture and tourism, said this while responding to the report of a survey done by BudgIT, a civil tech organisation.

The report had listed Oyo as well as five other states – Kogi, Abia, Ekiti, Ondo and Benue – as having not paid salaries in 2017.

But Arulogun, who described the report as “fallacious”, said he had evidence to prove that Oyo had paid some months in 2017.

“The quoted survey is faulty in its findings with a wide error margin given the facts on the ground in relation to Oyo state casting serious doubts on the authenticity of the report. The methodology and approach of such a survey is questionable as the result is not in tandem with facts,” read the statement by Arulogun.

“We categorically state that the quoted survey report is a fallacy as Oyo state has indeed paid salaries this year and there are facts and figures to prove this.  We do not know how BudgIT conducted its survey but it seems to be among inappropriate population and sample size which obviously led the way to a high error margin.

“This year, the Oyo state government has paid salaries, including the pensions of retirees. It is therefore not only untrue but quite misleading to claim or quote anything to the counter. For the records and to put the issue in proper perspective, Oyo state government has fully paid its state workers and pensioners January and February 2017 salaries and pensions.

“Also, the Governor of the State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi announced at a media interactive session on May 29, 2017 that he has approved payment of the salaries for the month of March.

“Furthermore, the state government announced on May 19, 2017 that N2bn was released to clear some outstanding salaries of the local government workers and its pensioners after paying two months salaries for three consecutive months, December, January and February, in a bid to reduce the outstanding salary profile.

“At the moment, the government owes the state workers three months salaries, March, April and May, out of which the one for the month of March has been approved by Governor Ajimobi. However, the local government workers are owed between four to 10months, out of which N2bn was released recently.

“On May 1 2017, the leadership of the state NLC commended Governor Abiola Ajimobi for his commitment to clearing salaries backlog. In like manner, the Oyo State Public Service Joint Negotiating Council also attested to the government’s commitment to clearing the backlog of salaries vide a letter dated April 4, 2017, signed by its State Chairman and Secretary, Comrade Emmanuel Ogundiran and Comrade Dupe Adewoye respectively, where it commended Governor Abiola Ajimobi for the continuous payment of salaries and pensions in the state.

“All these information were released to the public not for publicity sake but to keep the records straight and forestall such a report as the one in question.”