Reports that the president of federation of Oyo
state students’ union, University of Abuja chapter,
Adebimpe Peter Babatunde has cried out to Oyo state
governor, Abiola Ajimobi to pay outstanding salaries to
their workers.
Babatunde urged him to prioritize payment of workers’
salary arrears as their parents are suffering.
However, he recognized the efforts Ajimobi has taken to
make Oyo state a better place like the recent creation of
local council development areas aimed at bringing
government closer to the people,
“Governor Ajimobi should make payment of workers salary
as one of the cardinal agenda of his government,” the
leader noted.
“Our parents are suffering. The government should not do
as if all is well in the state; we suffer in our various
schools as students from Oyo State because our parents
have no money to cater for our needs.
“We have several cases of self withdrawal from higher
institutions because of inability to meet up with the
financial obligations required. This is not good enough for
a state that is noted for playing leading roles in the nation.
“Oyo state as we all know is a pace setter, we make good
records not bad records for other states to emulate. We
appeal to the governor to sustain the good names of the
state right from the days of the late sage, Papa Obafemi
Awolowo,” he said.
Adebimpe further urged Ajimobi to increase the state’s
internally generated revenue instead of total dependence
on the monthly sharing of the federal allocation.
“The era of banking on the monthly sharing of money from
the Federation Account is over due to the collapsing of the
crude oil prices in the international market.
“Governors should think out of the box to justify the
mandate given to them by the voters,” the statement
concluded,” he said.
The war between the government and Oyo workers over
unpaid salaries have been lingering for a while.
However, last year, The Oyo state chapter of the Nigerian
Labour Congress (NLC) has blasted Governor Abiola
Ajimobi for failing to pay the balance of April salaries to
staff of local government including Primary School
teachers in Oyo state.
The NLC described Ajimobi’s refusal to pay salaries as a
rejection of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
mutually singed in the wake of the salary crisis that
bedeviled the state.