The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo state and opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) are in tango over a statement by Gov Makinde about the number of work- force in the state and their salary. BAYO AGBOOLA writes.
Again, Oyo state is in fresh controversy over the actual number of work-force on its payroll and the exact amount spent as monthly salary for the entire government workers at the moment. This controversy reared its head a few days back when Governor Seyi Makinde at a recent Nigerian-American Business Forum in the US said the number of workers in the state civil service is 115,000 with a monthly salary at N11billion.
Oppositions fire shot
The All Progressives Congress (APC) upon this claim wasted no time in faulting Makinde describing the claim as bogus and fake. It said Governor Makinde’s claim of 115, 000 workforce in the state payroll is a futile attempt to cover up the brazen looting of public treasury by the Peoples Democratic Party-led government in the state.
The party in a statement by its assistant publicity secretary, Prince Ayobami Adejumo, said, “We had waited patiently for Governor Makinde to make a u-turn and blame his handlers for improper briefing on this particular matter like he has always been doing since his assumption of office last year May. It is however apparent that the governor is on a mission to sell a dummy with a view to doing a cover-up on the palpable diversion of monies from the state government coffers into some private accounts. He went as far as the United States to make a disclosure of 115, 000 workforce and N11 billion wage bill which he claimed to have been paying since June 2019 even when he had never mentioned this to anyone at home despite wanting to be in the media every time by way of propaganda and calculated media hype.
“To set the record straight, the statistics obtainable as at May 2019 is as follows: core civil servants -10,789, TESCOM staff (teaching/non-teaching) -17,615, local government staff -12, 264, SUBEB staff -23, 352, parastatals -2,266, NYSC (corps members serving in the state) -3,403, state government pensioners -16,539 and a total wage bill of N5.2b including payments to all political office holders and subventions to state-owned tertiary institutions. It is worthy of note that monthly payments to local government council staff (12, 264), public primary school employees (23, 352) and local government pensioners (8,805) are being made directly from federal allocations to the 33 LGAs,” it said.
It added further that, “In view of the foregoing, the questions that readily come to mind are: how did Gov Makinde come about his figures, has there been any recruitment of new staff to justify the 20, 000 additional staff population figure, when did salary payments to local government staff and retirees become the responsibility of a state government, why has the Oyo state government not released the breakdown of the figures quoted to put paid to the concerns raised globally about the governor’s claims, when did the state government commence the payment of its compressed New Minimum Wage to workers in the state and is this responsible for the over N5.8b increase in wage bill?
A chieftain of the Alliance for Democracy in the state, Engr Hakeem Oyedele Alao, on his part
said the people of the state deserve explanation from Governor Makinde on the 115,000 workers claim saying, “The governor is hereby sued to the public court to explain where and how he got those staggering figures as against the information at the doorstep of the generality of the people of Oyo state regarding the subject.”
Engr Alao in a statement pointed out that as at the time the immediate past governor, Abiola Ajimobi was leaving office in May 2019, there were 100,000 workers with wage bill of N5.2bn.
“Our attention has been drawn to the claim by Governor Seyi Makinde that the number of workforce of Oyo state at the moment is 115,000 and their wage bill was N11b monthly. Governor Makinde was said to have made the statement at the Nigerian-American Business Forum held in Tampa, Florida, United States, where he had spoken to attract investments to the state.
“This assertion in the US by Governor Seyi Makinde about the state of the labour force in the state’s civil service came as a surprise and His Excellency is hereby, on his return, sued to the public court to kindly explain to us where and how he got those staggering figures as against the information at the doorstep of the generality of the people of Oyo state regarding the subject. As at the time the immediate past governor was leaving office in May 2019, His Excellency, Senator Abiola Ajimobi gave the total number of workforce in the state as 100,000 and their wage bill some N5.2 billion. “This statement by Senator Ajimobi was even corroborated by Governor Makinde in August 2019. Therefore, the question that will agitate any sane mind is how the number of workforce and their wage bill can increase overnight by 100%.
“Even if the New Minimum Wage regime is put under consideration, the current wage bill should not skyrocket to that amount because the consequential adjustment of the wage was not up to 50% or has Governor Makinde employed more personnel into the civil service which the citizens did not know about?”
PDP defends Makinde
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while defending Governor Makinde stated that
the figure put out by the governor was a combination of state and local government workers and that the implementation of minimum wage and incremental adjustment took the wage bill of workers in both tiers of government from N8 billion to N11 billion monthly.
Tagging the APC and Alao’s criticism of 115,000 workforce and the N11billion monthly salary as reckless, PDP in its statement by the state publicity secretary, Engr Akeem Olatunji, he accused the duo of engaging in campaign of calumny and unsubstantiated claim that the figure quoted by the governor was fake and an attempt to loot the resources of the state. He said the governor has proved through his policies and actions that integrity is non-negotiable and rekindled the hope of Nigerians that public accountability and transparency could be practised in governance.
“We read with bewilderment the statement credited to the crisis-ridden All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state in which it criticised Governor Seyi Makinde following his well-articulated and widely-commended investment pitch during the recently concluded Nigerian-American Business Forum held at Florida, United States. In their usual frustrated nature, the APC tried to cast aspersion on another wonderful initiative of the Makinde administration in selling the state to the world with a view to attracting investments and expanding its economy. By leaving the meat of Makinde’s strategic proposal to investors to embrace the state and the uncommon passion with which he advertised Oyo to hundreds of investors, to dwell on the figure of the Oyo state workforce and the wage bill, the APC showed itself as wicked and unconcerned about the prosperity of the state.”
With the ragging controversy, the matter still remains that as at present, the correct figure of workers in the state monthly payroll still remains unknown as the government is yet to clear the air despite the controversy. The issue might in the due cause turn out to be a major factor hunting the credibility of the present administration in the state. For example, Governor Makinde while receiving the executive members of the state wing of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) last week said among others thing that, “By my own records, we have about 40,000 teachers in Oyo State but I am being told that we have about 30,000. There is a difference of about 10,000, this shows that there is something wrong.”
This no doubt speaks volume on the need for the administration to wake up to the challenge before it gets too late.