WORKERS in Oyo heaved a sigh of relief when the Federal Government listed the state as one of the beneficiaries of the bailout funds. But their joy was cut short when governor Abiola Ajimobi lamented that the bailout of N26.6b to the state was inadequate to offset outstanding salaries owed workers. Ajimobi said local council workers would get N9.3b from the amount, while the state workers would get the remaining N17.3b.

Oyo State receives about N3b monthly allocation from the Federation Account, while its Internally Generated Revenue is N1.2b. Prior to the release of the Funds; the workers were being owed May, June, July and August salaries.  Many could hardly feed their families, but things have since improved since the government paid part of the outstanding salary arrears.

The Guardian learnt that N26.6 b was released to the state government and Ajimobi did not renege on his promise to spend the bailout on payment of the salary arrears.  The state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Waheed Olojede, said the governor made good his promise to use the bailout to settle the salary arrears of workers. Confirming government’s meetings with labour leaders to keep them abreast of unfolding issues, Olojede said before the bailout, the state government owed them salaries of May, June, July and August.

“The government has paid to August. We are optimistic that very soon, all the arrears would be paid. You know, we have to face the economic reality in the state. We cannot ask the government to pay everything at once. If we insist on that, we risk a lot of things. It could lead to reduction in the workforce and we don’t want that,” he added.

On whether the governor actually used the bailout for settlement of the salaries, he said, “when the governor has paid four months, then we can conveniently say he used the bailout for the salary arrears.”

Though, the bailout could offset the salary arrears, Ajimobi has hinted that there may be a problem paying salaries of workers every month, as the state will find it difficult doing any other project.

In order to prevent a situation where all the income to state is spent on workers alone, he said there could be a need to reduce workers’ salaries. Speaking at a public function recently, Ajimobi noted, “there is consideration for salary cut. I am already discussing with the workers. I have laid bare to them the problems we face. We have less than 100,000 workers in Oyo State, and they consume all the monies of Oyo State. We can’t even take care of the public; we can’t even repair roads, and we can’t even do anything.”

Further, he explained that the state would have to settle contractors who are being owed. “We owe some contractors so much, we cannot pay them. Last week, I held a meeting with the workers’ representatives and I laid it all out for them saying, ‘gentlemen, every month that we get salary, we are not doing anything else in Oyo State. We are just working for the workers of Oyo State. Oyo State is not created to be paying workers salary only. It is also created to take care of the masses; provide infrastructure; provide all the enabling environment for the people to live better and enjoy life.”

But, cutting salaries of workers is likely to cause a row between the government and labour. On that Ajimobi argued, “even, surprisingly, the workers empathised with us. We made them realise that it is not enough to empathise, but to take concrete steps to correct the situation, otherwise we are running a bankrupt setting.”

Olojede, however, denied signing any pact with the state government on salary cut. He said, “the labour union did not have any agreement with Ajimobi to cut workers’ salaries. How much is the salary in the first place that the governor is going to cut it again? Does the salary even take the workers home in the first place? Four to five months are in arrears already. If the government cuts the salary of the workers in Oyo State, to me, it is like going to the market to buy pesticide and putting it into the workers’ mouths.

“We have not heard from any of the states owing salaries that salary of their workers should be cut as a solution to the problem. If Osun State that owes more did not talk of cutting workers’ salaries, Oyo State, whose condition is not as bad as that, cannot contemplate cutting our salary. Oyo is a pace setter in all good things. Other people copy us, and so, I repeat that our governor will not contemplate cutting workers’ salaries. Doing so will be counter-productive,” Olojede said.

As at now, the state is already carrying out verification exercise among the teachers and they are alleging that the governor is planning to downsize the workforce. However, the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) in the state has faulted Ajimobi over claims that the bailout fund is not enough to pay workers’ salaries. The group alleged that states that requested the bailout fund (Oyo State inclusive) were expected to submit the exact figure that will be needed to offset the backlog of salary and pension arrears in their respective state.

“The argument that the entire N3.2b monthly allocations the state receives from the Federal Government (FG) and N1.2b IGR is almost being spent only on the N5.2b wage bill of state workers put at 100,000 in number is divisive. It is a way to incite the rest of the oppressed strata of the society, who have also benefited little or nothing over the years owing to the self-serving agenda of successive governments in the state regardless of political parties, against the public workers in the state.

“It could be true that wage bill for 100,000 public workers is N5.2b. But it cannot be true that the entire 100,000 workforce are strictly state workers, whose salaries are paid only from the allocation to the state government. The last biometric verification conducted by the same Ajimobi-led government in 2011 showed that only 28,000 workers received their salaries from the allocation meant for the state government. Going by this background, one is left with no option than to suspect that the remaining 72,000 out of the 100,000 workers declared by the APC government are workers in primary schools and local government whose salaries and allowances are paid through Federal government and allocation meant for the local government respectively.”

“We also frown at any consideration, as declared by the governor, for cutting the salary and allowance of civil servants in the state. We hold that any attempt to cut the salary of workers who were denied any significant economic gain in the period of boom will amount to a serious economic injustice and jeopardy. It must be resisted by workers and labour leaders,” Olojede declared.