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A group, The Osun Masterminds has urged Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, to reject assent to the bill by State House of Assembly to increase the salaries of political office holders in the state.
The Osun Masterminds described the bill as “grossly insensitive and illogical”.
The group said this at a press conference addressed by its Executive Director, Prof. Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Monday.
It said: “In this same State where government could not make clear-cut palliative plans to cushion the biting effects of the harsh economy, the State Assembly is proposing an increase to the already-bogus salaries of political office holders. This is irresponsible and unacceptable.
“In the same Osun State where many civil servants are currently finding it really hard to survive, the House of Assembly, instead of making more pro-people laws, is passing such obnoxious bills that so flagrantly disrespects the mood of the average Osun dweller.
“At a time we all should be condemning the needlessly large population of political appointments already made by the Governor, the Assembly wants to further increase the pressure on our scarce resources. This is not only disappointing, as we would ordinarily expect more productive actions from a youth-dominated Assembly, it is also irresponsible.
“We call on Governor Adeleke to decline assent to this obnoxious bill as it seeks to over-burden the already over-stretched resources of our ailing State. We cannot continue to add dead weight to the shoulders of a State that is just struggling to get out of the mountain of indebtedness that it was buried under a couple of years ago.
“The Governor must say no to this bill in the interest of the people and deploy whatever resources the State has, to the welfare of workers, whose salaries have already become seriously inadequate, and the common man on the streets, who is currently struggling to survive.”
The Osun Masterminds also called on the Osun State Government to as a matter of urgency, intensify its monitoring of the construction of flyover in Oke-Fia and ensure that the contractor not only deliver quality, but also conforms to global engineering standards of quality and safety.
Speaking on security situations in Osogbo and other parts of Osun State, the group said: “In recent weeks, insecurity has increased in a very frightening manner in Osogbo, the State capital. We have had reports of people robbed at gunpoint in popular areas of Osogbo, while we have also had reports of bloody cult clashes in some other areas of the city.
“These should not be happening in the once-peaceful and safe Osogbo city. Government must act immediately, to curb the growing menace of armed robbery, cultism, thuggery and general insecurity in the State capital.
“Curbing the ongoing menace will include since discontinuation of political patronage to known cultists and thugs, while ensuring that those ones already found guilty of crimes, past or present, are made to face the full weight of the law. The fight against insecurity cannot be won if politicians continue to patronize thugs and known cultists.”
The Osun Masterminds further condemned the alleged cash-backing of promotions in the state civil service, saying: “We seek to clarify when the State Government will cash-back the promotions of Civil servants at the Local Governments and Teachers under SUBEB.
“It cannot be fair to implement a policy for Civil Servants in the State’s employ, while Local Government employees and SUBEB Teachers wait endlessly for the same benefits.”
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