Osun: Outstanding Salaries Will Be Cleared Within 12 Months – Oyetola

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola has assured civil servants in the state that he will pay all their outstanding salaries within 12 months if elected as the next governor.

The candidate who is currently the Chief of Staff to the governor, Rauf Aregbesola also expressed confidence that his chances of winning September 22 election is very bright despite the exit of one of the prominent members of the party and the immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Moshood Adeoti.

Oyetola, who stated this at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja while fielding questions from newsmen after completing his nomination forms for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), noted that he will definitely cruse home to victory.

He said, “First and foremost, most states have been challenged by the lack of funds over the years but there is this misconception on the issue of salaries about Osun state. We paid salaries from level one to seven, we are not owing anybody. We paid 75% for people in level 8 to 10, the only categories of people we are owing is actually from level 12 to 17, likewise pensioners.

“So, when you talk about we owing salary, people tend to forget that it is not across board. Salary is fully paid from level one to seven, up till date and 8 to 10 we pay 75%. It is only portion of 12 to 17 that is being paid 50%.

“Yes it is a challenge we all recognise but we believe that it will not persist for too long. My attitude and the method I want to adopt is not to entirely rely on the allocation that comes from the federal government but to look at the means developing the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) not necessarily by increasing tax but by ensuring efficiency in terms of collection and by bringing people who have been evading tax to come into the bracket. You can still get more by doing all of that without necessarily increasing taxes.

“So we are committed to paying whatever that is outstanding and we are looking forward to be able to pay full salaries subsequently, and in any case why do we want to be in government if we can not think outside the box? We must be very creative, that is the essense of being in government anyway. I believe in another one year you would have seen that things would have changed to better.”

On the resignation of the SSG, he said: Well, SSG is my brother actually, I would have loved he remains in the party but as a matter of choice, he decided to leave the party. There is nothing anybody can do about that.

“But as for the fact that, it might affect my fortune, I don’t think so. One, if you look at the result of that election, I had 127,000 votes. These are purely members of our Party. We are going to have opportunities of other voters.

“The average is usually about 600 or so serious voters. If you look at the percentage of that from members of our Party alone and with the kind of programme I want to run and the fact that people seem to have that level of trust in me, I believe I will have more not only from the APC which is our base, even from the generality of the people.

“So, I wish him well. He is a somebody I have some regards for too. Sometimes politics is like that. You path and meet again. I wish him well.”