OSUN State government, on Friday declared that subsequent payment of full month salary to its workforce would only be determined by the availability of financial resources at its disposal, just as it charged civil servants, saddled with the responsibility of revenue generation to redouble their efforts in shoring up the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
This development followed the payment of full salary for the month of December 2017 to the workers on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Osun State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Bola Oyebamiji, who made this disclosure during his maiden meeting in 2018 with the workers in the ministry maintained that the only determinant factor for the sustenance of full month salaries to the civil servants is the availability of funds.
Recalling that the payment of full salary to the workforce for the month of December 2017 was in fulfillment of agreement between the labour and Governor Rauf Aregbesola-led administration during the industrial action embarked on few days before last year Christmas, he stated the state government used 91 percent of the money received from the Paris club refund to pay the December salary.
According to Oyebamiji, “Osun Government is ready to pay full salaries, the determinant is the availability of the resources. The continuation of payment of full salaries would be determined by our capability We were able to pay full salaries from the Paris club refund
. We must generate revenue for the state. We just paid full salary and the full salary was not paid from the allocation from the federal government.
“We, therefore, must work hard to generate more revenue for the state. It would not be in our collective interest if you workers are paying your tax as being deducted at source and you don’t tell your neighbour who is operating a hospital or private school to pay his or her taxes. I want to appeal to you to go out and work so that the government will be able to continue paying the salary as and when due.
Oyebamiji further averred that “Sustainability of the business of the government should be our target. It is my wish that we all work together to enable the government function well”, stressing Osun cannot afford to depend on the receipt of monthly allocation from the Federation Account to cater for its expenditures and other financial obligations.
He, however, assured that diligence and hard work would be adequately rewarded, adding that prompt promotion would be the reward of any staff that performs exceptionally well in the year 2018.