May Day: Oni laments salary arrears owed Ekiti workers

A leading governorship aspirant in the May 5 primary of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) in Ekiti, Chief Olusegun Oni, has said that he is not happy about the huge arrears of salaries, gratuities and pensions being piled up monthly in the state.

Oni, in a statement on Sunday signed by his media aide, Mr Steve Alabi, sympathised with Ekiti workers and retirees “on the hard times they are going through.

“You deserve better than what you are getting as the Holy Books themselves strongly assert that a labourer deserves his wages.”

Oni, who was the immediate past Deputy Chairman, South of the party promised to again make workers’ welfare a priority if elected in the July 14 governorship election in the state.

“In my first tenure, I inherited gratuity and pension arrears even from the old Ondo State and we paid them off.

“We did an analysis on post-retirement poverty with which we tackled this problem. We determined we would not owe anyone by 31st of December, 2007 and we achieved it.”

He said, “we did it because we made it a priority. We paid gratuity within 60 days. We also introduced loans for people to build houses.”

Oni argued that prompt and regular payment of salaries, gratuities and pensions depended on “what each administration considers its priority” and submitted that “salaries should be a priority of governments because the worker deserves his wages.”

The former governor promised to enthrone a new social and economic order if elected as the next governor in Ekiti State.

Oni was governor in the state between May 29, 2007, and October 15, 2010, when the Court of Appeal nullified his election.