Kazeem Badmus
A former governor of the state of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has disclosed that 80-90% of the state revenue is being used to service the state civil servants.
According to Oyinlola, the resources left after paying the civil servants is not always enough for developmental projects in the state.
Oyinlola made this known on Wednesday, while featuring on a private radio program ‘Frank Talk’ in Osogbo.
He said: “The civil service takes between 80-90% of the resources of the state. We had some near turbulent situations whereby at a point, I had no choice than calling a stakeholders meeting to discuss how we want to run the state.
“If 40,000 people would consume ninety per cent of the resources, how will other citizens enjoy the benefit of democracy and good governance?
“The only thing that would happen is retrenchment, but the effect of downsizing without the consideration of the people of the state might be counter-productive.
“To every civil servant, there is minimum of five to ten mouths attached to him or her. So, the effect of downsizing might outweigh the gain and a government cannot do that if it does not want to earn bad name.
“Together, with senior members of the civil service, we were able to engineer our way out and we kept the boat sailing till the end of my tenure.”
Speaking on the anniversary of the state, Oyinlola said the state is moving in the right direction and will soon attain its desired height.
“In everything, we should give thanks to God. We may not have achieved what our expectations are for the state, but we are still existing and moving on.
“I think with serious hands in government, we can still continue to do better than we are. Resources are limited in the state and in the absence of resources, no development will occur.”
“We must look for means of generating extra funds outside what we get from the federal government. That is what can take us to where we desire to be”, he stated.
