We spent N14.2bn on salaries in less than 2 weeks —Aregbesola

GOVERNOR Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, on Tuesday, said that his administration expended N14.2 billion on payment of salaries in less than two weeks before the end of December 2016.

He made this disclosure at the state secretariat, Abere, during an inter-denominational service to begin 2017.

Aregbesola said that with what befell the state before the close of 2015, it was gratifying that the state bounced back.

He observed that the ability of his government to pay September, October, November and December 2016 salaries, in less than two weeks, was a huge relief.

Aregbesola recalled that when the state got N34.9 billion bailout loan in 2015, there were controversies on how to disburse the funds when some people insisted that the whole funds should be spent at once.

“But I knew that with the magnitude of the economic crisis facing Nigeria, it would have been suicidal to expend the whole bailout at once without saving a portion, which eventually bailed us out till around February 2016,” the governor said.

Aregbesola further contended that the development compelled his administration to constitute the state’s Revenue Apportionment Committee, headed by labour veteran, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu, which he said made it possible for the state to pay salaries till February 2016.

He maintained that the arrival of the Paris Club deductions refunds, which made N11.7 billion available to the state, had brought some reliefs, noting that the state would however need to intensify efforts towards self-sustenance.

In his sermon, Dr Isiaka Lawal of the College of Education, Ilesa, advised civil servants to abide by the rules of their engagements, noting that leakages of officially classified documents contradicts civil service rules.