Oyo Govt replies FG, says state not owing workers

By Bushrah Adeshina, Ibadan

The Oyo State Government has responded to the Minister of Information and Orientation, Mohammed Idris over a statement credited to him in response to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors after a meeting in Abuja.

The Oyo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade said that Oyo State government takes exception to the sweeping generalisation against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the federal government.

The Minister had said in a statement earlier in Abuja that PDP governors have defaulted in the payment of “workers’ salaries, pension arrears” and “gratuities to their retired workers.”

In a direct response to the statement, Oyelade said that in specific and general terms the Minister was wrong.

The Minister was also quoted to have said that farmers are not being catered for in the States in reference.

But Oyelade said this statement is dead on arrival and flies in the face of verifiable facts from Oyo State.

According to him, the Seyi Makinde administration is taking care of its workforce more than any other State in the federation.

Oyelade said, “The solidarity remarks of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Oyo State branch leadership apart, the State pays its workers salaries every 25th of the month for the past 57 months, has been paying the 30,000 naira minimum wage from inception almost four years ago, including consistent ayment of pensions and grtuities which by the way includes 13th month pament for both workers and pesioners alike and started payng the federal government induced wage awad since September 2023 even when the FG is still defauling.

“On th false allegation that farmers ar not treated well, this can nly be put down to the inaccessibility of facts to the Honourable Minister.

“The tate’s strategic interventionin agro-allied road networks that has successfully linked all the seven zones in the State, 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.

“And since the establishment of the Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery, SAfER, by the 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.

“The State government will therefore with due respect ask the Honourable Minister of Information and Orientation to rephrase his unhelpful generalization even as we should our deference to his office,” the Commissioner said.