Jonathan’s govt ‘massive looting’ responsible for unpaid salaries – APC

The All Progressives Congress has said the alleged massive looting of the nation’s fund by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan is the reason some states are finding it difficult to pay their workers for months.
The Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of APC in Osun State, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, said this in a statement issued on Wednesday. The ruling party described the PDP administration as the worst in terms of corruption on the continent of Africa, saying their stealing of public fund was unequalled.

The statement read, “The leadership of the PDP in Osun were recipients of the looted funds which would have been available to pay salaries if the PDP government of Goodluck Jonathan did not steal such humongous sums and wasted the nation’s resources in the most expensive party campaigns for retaining political power that has never been seen in the Continent of Africa.

“From the NNPC alone, the PDP stole trillions of Naira. The ex-minister of finance spent billions of dollars without authorisation, not to talk of other agencies of the federal government which joined in the looting spree of Nigeria by the PDP.

“If all these monies the PDP had looted from the federal purse were equitably distributed to the 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT, no working staff anywhere in Nigeria will be owed a kobo in salaries today.”

Apart from the alleged massive stealing of the nation’s resources, the APC said the former administration also started deducting federal allocations to states by mid 2013, which further incapacitated states from paying their workers. The ruling party said it was sad that the leaders of the PDP in Osun State were now “mocking the workers whose plights were caused by the former PDP administration at the federal level.”

Meanwhile, the PDP in the state has condemned the payment of one month salary arrears for workers in the state. The Director of Publicity of PDP in Osun State, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, who said this in a statement, condemned Aregbesola for saying he had slashed the emoluments of political office holders by 50 per cent. The opposition party said the pay cut had no impact because “only the deputy governor, chief of staff, and SSG are political functionaries appointed by Aregbesola after he was inaugurated for his second term in office.

The PDP statement read, “With utmost disappointment and embarrassment we received the news of one month payment of workers salary in Osun. It is indeed a shock for Osun workers to receive payment alert of their Dec salary in July leaving an outstanding seven months unpaid with no fixed date for the payment.

“While sympathising with the entire work force and retirees in Osun, we appeal to them not to take laws into their hands and remain calm in the face of disappointment from the governor.”