The Nigeria Union of Pensioners in Osun State has urged the
Central Bank of Nigeria to lay an embargo on the N34.988bn
bailout fund released to the state for payment of workers
salaries and pensions.
The Chairman of the NUP in the state, Tunde Ogunniyi, who said
this at a press conference in Osogbo on Tuesday, said this call
became necessary because Governor Rauf Aregbesola had
allegedly refused to use the fund for what it was meant.
Ogunniyi also called on President Muhammdu Buhari and the
National Assembly to declare emergency rule in the state
because the state was gravitating towards anarchy because of
nonpayment of salaries and pensions.
The pensioners said while many states which took the bailout
had started paying backlog of salaries to their workers,
Aregbesola had refused to pay workers and pensioners their
entitlements.
The NUP chairman said pensioners in the state were being owed
backlog of unpaid pensions ranging from 10 to 15 months. He
stated that some of the pensioners were paid half of December
2014 pension and none had been paid a dime in 2015.
He said, ” Pensioners have complied with the conditions laid
down by the government for them to access their entitlements,
which is screening of all pensioners in the state.
“We expect the state government to have commenced payment
after the screening about three weeks ago but the government
has refused to do so.
” This action of Osun State Government led by Ogbeni Rauf
Aregbesola amount to deliberate display of callousness,
greediness, wickedness, flagrant disobedience to the rule of law,
maladministration and fraud.
” We hereby resolved that the Central Bank of Nigeria should
immediately take over the direct payment of the money to each
pensioner or in the alternative, place embargo on the state
government from accessing the loan which the governor is
planning to divert to fund white elephant projects.”
Ogunniyi said Eco Bank took similar action when it lent Osun
State some money to offset pension arrears in 2014. He
explained that the step was taken by the bank to ensure that the
loan was not diverted for other use.
The pensioner stated that many members if the NUP had died
prematurely because of lack of money to feed and to buy drugs
to treat diseases some of them were managing.
The union however called on the anti-graft agencies to
investigate Aregbesola on how he had been managing the
finances of the state, saying “he should be punished in
accordance with the anti-graft law of the land.
“We also want to warn these Lagos contractors to immediately
pack all their equipment and leave Osun state within one week
because their safety can no longer be guaranteed by the hungry
Pensioners, workers and citizen of Osun state.”
There has been allegation from the Peoples Democratic Party in
the state that the governor paid a contractor N20bn from the
bailout fund, but the governor had since denied it.
Aregbesola had on Monday in a statement assured workers and
pensioners that the bailout fund would be used for the purpose
which it was meant.