Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun on Monday disclosed that the administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun left almost nothing in the State treasury.
The Governor who spoke while addressing the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State, said in spite of the treatment melted out to him by Amosun, he had resolved not to discuss the shortcomings of his administration but rather focus on ensuring good governance in the State.
The meeting which was held at MTR hall, Ibara Housing Estate, Abeokuta, the State capital had in attendance former and serving Senators Gbenga Kaka, Tolu Odebiyi, Lanre Tejuoso, former Deputy Governors, Salimot Badru, Segun Adesegun, former House of Assembly Speakers, Titi Oseni-Gomez and Suraj Adekunbi among others.
The Governor disclosed that when he assumed office, his administration went out of its way to pay May workers’ salary with credit facilities from banks.
Abiodun who hinted that he might not be probing Amosun’s administration said, if his administration must succeed, he must move forward and be focused, saying “We have by far, too many things to do than to begin to be bogged down by what someone did or what he did not do or what he left behind.”
He said, “I cannot begin to describe in the open to you the Ogun State that we inherited. I cannot begin to describe it to you. And I will not because I have made up my mind that publicly and privately, I will not discuss anything about that past administration.”
“We have resolved to draw the line and to move forward from there. We need to be focused. We are going to rebrand and relaunch the security trust fund.”
The Governor disclosed that his first challenge in office as the Governor was how to pay the May workers’ salary, saying that he had to call his friends who are Managing Directors of banks to get a credit facility of over N7billon to pay the workers.
His words, “30th of May was our first day in office. And on the 31st, it dawn on me that it was the end of the month and we need to pay salary.”
“But here we are on our second day in office. I don’t even have an office; I don’t even know how to sign any document; I don’t even know what the protocols are.”
“Suddenly, we realized that it was 31st. And I intend to keep my end of the tripartite agreement. So, I called the Head of Service. I told him that we must pay salary. But he said to me that “you are new in government and everybody understands that you just assumed office and we don’t have that expectation of you paying salary now. They (workers) will understand. There is very little or no money. We can talk to them.”
“But I told the Head of Service, either they (workers) are expectant or not, it is my promise to the people that salaries will be paid as and when due. So, I picked my phone and called my friends who are MDs (Managing Directors) at different banks. I told them I need to pay salaries and this is the little I have; almost nothing in the State account. I requested for a credit facility to allow me to pay over N7billion which is the State wage bill. That day, my intention was that maybe one or two will oblige me, but the five banks that I called obliged me.”
“To the glory of God, we paid salaries that day. Civil servants began to get their alert that evening. And I began to feel a sense of uplift and fulfilment. And this was my first task in office, and I managed to accomplish it”, the Governor said.
Abiodun stressed that unlike the last administration that did not remit pension deductions, his administration would ensure regular remittance of pension deductions to the Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs).
He said, “We will ensure that pension contributions are forwarded to the PFAs, contrary to what obtained in the past. You cannot be deducting money from people and nit forward it to the PFAs because we from the private sector understand the implication of that.”
“Ogun State remains the only State that have not issued a bond. We cannot issue a bond because they will ask you, there is a checklist. We have not forwarded pensions to the PFAs. So they cannot issue a bond.”
The Governor later held a closed-door meeting with the party chieftains.
Briefing journalists later, the Publicity Secretary of party’s caretaker Committee, Mr. Tunde Oladunjoye said the Governor called the meeting to brief them on the activities of Abiodun’s administration in the last one month.
Source: Uhuru Times
