The Nigeria Union of Pensioners in Osun State has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to put an embargo on the N34.988bn bailout released to the state for the payment of workers’ salaries and pensions.
The Chairman of the NUP in the state, Tunde Ogunniyi, who said this at a press conference in Osogbo on Tuesday, said this call became necessary because Governor Rauf Aregbesola had allegedly refused to use the fund for what it was meant for.
Ogunniyi also called on President Muhammdu Buhari and the National Assembly to declare emergency rule in the state because the state was gravitating towards anarchy because of non-payment of salaries and pensions.
The pensioners said while many states which took the bailout had started paying backlog of salaries to their workers, Aregbesola had refused to pay workers and pensioners their entitlements.
The NUP chairman said pensioners in the state were being owed a backlog of unpaid pensions ranging from 10 to 15 months. He stated that some of the pensioners were paid half of December 2014 pension and none had been paid a dime in 2015.
He said, “Pensioners have complied with the conditions laid down by the government for them to access their entitlements, which is screening of all pensioners in the state.
“We expect the state government to have commenced payment after the screening about three weeks ago but the government has refused to do so.
“ This action of Osun State Government, led by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, amount to deliberate display of callousness, greediness, wickedness, flagrant disobedience to the rule of law, maladministration and fraud.
“We hereby resolved that the Central Bank of Nigeria should immediately take over the direct payment of the money to each pensioner or in the alternative, place embargo on the state government from accessing the loan which the governor is planning to divert to fund white elephant projects.”
Ogunniyi said EcoBank took similar action when it lent Osun State some money to offset pension arrears in 2014.
He explained that the step was taken by the bank to ensure that the loan was not diverted for other use.
The pensioner stated that many members of the NUP had died prematurely because of lack of money to feed and buy drugs to treat diseases which some of them were managing.
The union however called on the anti-graft agencies to investigate Aregbesola on how he had been managing the finances of the state, saying, “He should be punished in accordance with the anti-graft law of the land.
“We also want to warn these Lagos contractors to immediately pack all their equipment and leave Osun State within one week because their safety can no longer be guaranteed by the hungry pensioners, workers and citizens of Osun State.”
There has been allegation from the Peoples Democratic Party in the state that the governor paid a contractor N20bn from the bailout but the governor had since denied it.
Aregbesola had on Monday in a statement assured workers and pensioners that the bailout would be used for the purpose which it was meant.
The governor’s media aide, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, said the first batch of payment this week will be made from the allocations received for the month of July. This is only pending the conclusion of the verification exercise which the Labour itself called for in order to determine the actual workforce of the state.
He said this explanation became necessary because of the “various insinuations and manipulations of the minds of the people, giving the impression that the funds will be diverted to other purposes.”
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