A rights group, the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS), has requested the State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, to publish how the government under his watch spent the sum of N11.744 billion out of N84 billion Paris Club funds that accrued to the state from the Federal Government in the last quarter of 2016 for the clearance of workers’ salaries and pension arrears in the state.

The group said that the state government was economical with the truth on the spending of the special funds and challenged the government to come out from its shell to disclose the actual amount of the monthly payment of salaries and pensions in the state.

The civil group also insisted that the state government just spent only N4.5 billion of the N11.7 billion received from the Federal Government on the payment of modulated salaries and pensions of workers and retirees alike with the balance of three months leave bonus to the affected workers. It said the payment of modulated salaries and pensions of four months did not justify the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to the state government that the states like Osun, should use the share of Paris Club funds to clear the backlog of salaries and pensions, noting that the state government was still owing workers and retirees for between 8 and 10 months arrears of salaries and pensions respectively.

This was contained in a New Year message by CSCEOS Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi, Alimi Sulaiman, to the people of Osun State at home and abroad.

It further asked Mr. Aregbesola to disclose to the people of the state, how the government spent the Ecological Funds, Budget Support funds, Local Government funds, N3.5 billion bailout funds balance and allocations that accrued to the state from the Federation Account from August 2016 till December 2016 as well as the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for the period under review, and why the present administration in the state was still owing the workers and retirees.

The group therefore appealed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other related offences Commission (ICPC) to beam their searchlights on the financial mismanagement of the public funds by Aregbesola’s government. It also, urged the anti-graft agencies to investigate the role being played by a Lagos State based Firm, Charms Financial Consultancy Firm.

Poly students pass vote of confidence in Rector

Students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ede in Osun State have lauded the leadership style of the Rector of the institution, Bldr. Patrick Hussaini and passed a vote of confidence in him.

In a letter of vote of confidence which was addressed to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, the leadership of the students’ Union in the Polytechnic said pledged continuing supports for the rector.

The letter was signed by the President of the Students’ Union, Bakare Nureni and General Secretary, Adugbe John. The students’ Union highlighted feats achieved by the regime of Hussaini and described him as a good manager of resources.

The students’ union of the polytechnic urged the Minister of Education to disregard unfounded allegations against Hussaini, saying that the students were okay with his leadership style.

“The most ungrateful human is he who refuses to appreciate human efforts.

“With due sense of respect, humility and open-mindedness, we would like to voice our unequivocal support for Bldr. Patrick Hussaini, the Rector of our great citadel of learning and to express our continued unfaltering confidence in his leadership.

“He has dedicated himself to the challenges of leadership and building a positive long-lasting relationship between the students, management and Ede community at large.

The Students’ Union leaders also explained that the reinstatement of their union by Hussaini among other cogent achievement and developmental projects informed their support for his administration.

They commended the rector for the provision of internet facilities on the campus, which enables the students to connect to the internet at any location within the campus.

“Under the administration of Hussaini, the institution can boast of standard computer laboratory that makes Computer Based Test (CBT) examinations possible and very convenient.”

They also commended the rector for the entrepreneural programme that he introduced in a bid to train the students to be self-sustained and produce distinct set of graduate that would be self-dependent.

“Our Rector, Hussaini introduced a platform for students to acquire broad gauged entrepreneurship skills which enable students to have vast knowledge of starting business on various areas of agriculture and other fields with business opportunities. It would interest you to note that he led the final year students of the polytechnic to plant over 5,000 economic trees this year.”

“In terms of welfare of the students, our Rector’s concern for the students’ wellbeing is commendable. There is provision of healthcare facilities, adequate transport facilities, conducive learning environment, adequate security for the safety of lives and properties of the students and well maintained dormitories for students’ accommodation.”

Update news