TheCable

Rauf Aregbesola, governor of Osun state, has promised to pay outstanding salaries before the end of this month.

Civil servants in the employ of the state government have not received their salaries in the last seven months, leading to series of protest.

In a statement issued by Semiu Okanlawon, director of bureau of communication and strategy in the governor’s office, Aregbesola assured the workers that the hardship is over.

“Before the end of June, workers would be paid their salaries,” the statement read.

“The dream has not gone awry and it is a clear vision that Osun must be on its feet, self-reliant and be a reference point in Nigeria. The race to ensure development within the first term of Aregbesola was informed by the fear of what is happening now.

“Aregbesola wants an Osun that is self-reliant. That Osun, almost two decades after its creation, could not boast of tax-paying companies speaks volume about the magnitude of the works that awaited the Aregbesola administration.

“But he did not shy away from this task of industrialisation. Within his first term, his government had caused investors to bring up companies such as the Omoluabi Garment Factory, Osogbo, Adulawo/RLG Technology company in Ilesa.

“Just last month, a leading telephone line company, Airtel, came to establish partnership with the Adulawo/RLG company. These are aside the various agro-allied companies which have benefited from the growth schemes of the Aregbesola administration throughout the state.

“The government has also commenced aggressive drive for the development of the solid mineral sector with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with an Australian mining firm, Andalusian Mining Industry.

“It was in the same vein that the idea of an airport for aircraft maintenance was conceived.

“Only a lazy administration would accept the tag of Osun as a “civil servant” state as excuse for not developing initiatives for industrialisation.

“We must work hard to give our people many choices. If you want to work in the civil service, it must be the choice that our people make on their own volition and not that there are no other choices regardless of their education, qualifications and expertise.”