By Tolulope Oke
The APC governorship candidate in Osun State, Bola Oyebamiji, has rejected attempts to blame him for the controversial half-salary policy under former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, saying the practice had started nearly two years before he became Commissioner for Finance.
Oyebamiji made the clarification during the ARISE News governorship debate in Osogbo ahead of Saturday’s election.
Responding to questions over his role in the Aregbesola administration, Oyebamiji said he inherited the salary crisis when he assumed office as finance commissioner in 2017 and immediately began working to restore full payment to civil servants.
He said one of the major steps taken under his watch was the push for the release of Osun’s share of the Paris Club refund.
According to him, the effort eventually resulted in the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari approving about N16 billion for the state, providing funds that helped Osun resume payment of full salaries.
The half-salary arrangement had begun in June 2015, almost two years before Oyebamiji was appointed Commissioner for Finance in May 2017.
Under the arrangement, senior civil servants received half of their salaries while some categories of workers received 75 per cent as the state battled a severe financial crisis.
By September 2018, the Osun government announced that it had received N16.6 billion as Paris Club refund.
The Aregbesola administration subsequently released N19.8 billion for the payment of workers’ salaries, arrears, pensions and leave bonuses, with the Paris Club refund accounting for most of the funds.
Oyebamiji, who was finance commissioner at the time, announced that the state had resumed full salary payments.
“For the second month, we have now paid full salaries to all our workers,” he said at the time.
The controversial salary policy has resurfaced as a campaign issue ahead of the August 15 governorship election, with Oyebamiji’s opponents seeking to associate him with the hardship suffered by workers during the Aregbesola administration.
The APC candidate, however, maintains that rather than introducing the policy, he was part of the administration that eventually brought it to an end.
