*Lashes Information Minister
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Oyo State Government has lashed out at the Federal Government over claims that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors have defaulted in the payment of “workers’ salaries, pension arrears” and “gratuities to their retired workers.”
The state Commissioner for Information and Orientation,Prince Dotun Oyelade in a statement in response to the statement credited to the Minister of Information and Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the minister was wrong.
According to Prince Oyelade in the statement on Wednesday, the claim by the Federal Government, “is dead on arrival and flies in the face of verifiable facts from Oyo State”.
The Commissioner stressed that, “the Seyi Makinde administration is taking care of its workforce more than any other state in the federation”.
He said that the solidarity remarks of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Oyo State branch leadership aparts, the State pays its workers salaries every 25th of the month for the past 57 months.
The Commissioner maintained that the Oyo State Government has been paying the N30,000 minimum wage from inception almost four years ago, including consistent payment of pensions and gratuities which by the way includes 13th month payment for both workers and pensioners alike and started paying the federal government induced wage award since September 2023 even when the FG is still defaulting.
Prince Oyelade noted that the false allegation that farmers are not treated well, this can only be put down to the inaccessibility of facts to the Honourable Minister, saying Oyo state’s strategic intervention in agro-allied road networks has successfully linked all the seven zones in the State.
He pointed out that this has resulted into the largest increase in land cultivation and production in the past four years, successful encouragement of viable foreign and local investors through the Agribusiness template at the resuscitated Fashola Industrial Estate among others are proof of government’s laudable intent.
Prince Oyelade stressed that since the establishment of the Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery, SAfER, by the Oyo State government to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government, over one billion naira has been spent on soft loans for over 3,000 farmers including the distribution of farm inputs across the state.
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