By Sarafa Ibrahim
Politics can sometimes make a terrible mess of people and this was exactly how I felt after watching an Arise TV interview granted by a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun state, Hon. Kayode Oduoye, on the controversy triggered by the Osun payroll audit. In that interview, Mr Oduoye clearly misunderstood the issues at play and erroneously accused the current administration in the state of impropriety.
To start with, Mr Oduoye got the whole conversation in the Osun payroll audit wrong. Tally Tibbots was engaged by the Adeleke-led administration to audit the state’s payroll inherited from the previous administration, which incidentally is the party to which Mr Oduoye belongs. If there were indeed ghost workers detected and financial improprieties committed in the process, the right place to ask questions is the administration that used the payroll between 2018 and November 2022.
This straightforward position makes it nothing but political theatrics for Mr Oduoye, just like many others in his party, to attempt to twist the fact on the matter. From the start, the intention of the Adeleke administration is to ensure that only those who are entitled to remuneration from the public purse get it. Notwithstanding this resolve, the government is not prepared to watch legitimate workers and pensioners to be thrown out due to the greed of the consultant for high payout.
That was the basis of disagreement and stands in stark contrast to the position advanced by Mr Oduoye. On Thursday, the Vice Chancellor of Osun State University, Professor Clement Odunayo, made a shocking revelation that he and 249 other workers in the institution were classified as ghost workers by the consultant in the audit report. As funny as that may sound, it highlights the shoddy job that the consultant did just shore up her revenue.
While the interest of Governor Adeleke was to clean the state’s payroll of people who have no legal right to be there, Sally Tibbots wants a huge payout even if it means unjustly throwing legitimate workers out of the service without any lawful basis. That was how she was able to come up with the highly contested over 15,000 ghost workers and pensioners to make up for the nearly N2 billion fees to the State Government.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with whatever her charges is but it must not come from the weep of legitimate workers and pensioners. In all sincerity, that was untamed greed and no leader with a conscience would accept such unfair practice that intends to throw many families into ruins while laughing to the bank. Knowing Mr Oduoye and his avarice for what is wrong, I find it rather odd that he could make himself available for pushing patently inaccurate narratives.
Governor Adeleke is a transparent leader and this reflects from his administration’s formal invitation to the anti-corruption agencies on the Osun payroll controversy. If he has something to hide, he would not take such a step, more so, any investigation on the Osun payroll will lie square at the feet of his predecessor, who used the payroll that Sally Tibbots audited.
While there is nothing wrong with playing politics, there should be limits, and this is one of them. From all indications, Sally Tibbots audit report was with so much flaws and the fact that many of those she classified as ghost workers and pensioners are legitimate workers, and may even take legal actions against her, proved this much.
And lest I forget, Governor Adeleke is judiciously utilising funds that accrue to the state’s coffers and making it count for the people. Although Mr Oduoye may find it hard to admit, the fact remains that Osun has transformed significantly under Governor Adeleke just as the welfare of the people has taken a turn for the better.
In Ikirun, for instance, Mr Oduoye cannot miss the sights of new roads built by the Adeleke administration, particularly the completion of the 10.5km Osogbo-Ikirun-Ila Odo-Kwara boundary dual carriageway, which the Oyetola administration abandoned. The third phase of that same road is ongoing and will not only significantly reduce travel times but also boost economic activities along the corridor, including Ikirun.
Under Adeleke, Osun has one of the best minimum wage tables in Nigeria and promotion for workers along with financial benefits is a common activity. Osun has a broad healthcare coverage for pensioners in the state– the first state in the whole of Nigeria to do it– and prioritises their welfare. Public schools’ infrastructures were upscaled compared to what was inherited from the APC administration just as the Adeleke administration has so far carried out the wholesale rehabilitation of 200 primary healthcare centres despite not getting the kind of $20.5 million grant that the Oyetola administration applied for shabbily.
By all measures, public funds are delivering for the people, making most of the things the APC administration had in the past said were impossible possible. From Iwo to Ila, Ede to Ilesa, Osogbo to Ife, every part of Osun state is seeing accelerated renewal of public infrastructures, particularly expanding road networks, to stimulate economic activities. With Governor Adeleke, promises don’t become ‘audio’ as it was the experience with his predecessor, but turn into reality and this is why Osun people are standing solidly by him.
•Sarafa Ibrahim writes from Osogbo, Osun state
