Osun: Oyetola Engaged Only 2,000 Workers, Not 12,000 – Aide 

The administration of the immediate-past governor of Osun State, Adegboyega Oyetola, only employed 2,000 workers in the last few months of its tenure and not 12,000 as being alleged.

LEADERSHIP recalls that Oyetola’s successor, Governor Ademola Adeleke, had said that the immediate-past administration in the State employed 12,000 workers at its twilight to put landmines for the new government.

But, speaking at a stakeholders’ engagement with members of the Osun Young Professionals in Kwara State in Ilorin on Monday, the former chief press secretary to Oyetola, Mr. Ismail Omipidan, described the allegation as fictitious.

“It’s a lie. We challenged them to prove it by producing list of the 12,000 workers employed within two months and they couldn’t. What’s even the workforce of Osun State?The fact is that we only employed 1,500 teachers and 500 casual health workers whose appointments were regularised, making it 2,000 workers. Some were even employed before the election and some others after the election. We worked till the last day commissioning projects and not that we were creating landmines,” he said.

Omipidan, who said that the Oyetola administration gave a good account of itself, added that the State’s internally generated revenue (IGR) was improved from about N10bn to about N19 billion annually.

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“We built over 500 kilometers of roads within four years. Most of the roads we did were roads that were abandoned some 30, 40 years ago. Examples are Ada-Igbajo Road, Alekuwodo network of roads, and Iwo-Osogbo Road. We flagged off the construction of Iwo Road before we left. As I speak, work is ongoing on Iwo-Osogbo Road. These are parts of the promises we made. For me, I always argue that we never lost election we only lost the vote count.

“We didn’t take any bank facility for four years. Before we came in in 2018, payment of salary was a huge challenge. For the four years we spent, we did not owe salary. Even, the November salary, my principal signed it before we left office.

“If you know our situation in Osun before 2018, you’ll marvel. One of the things we deliberately kept out of the media until recently was the level of indebtedness. We deliberately kept it out because we don’t want to let it look as if we are trying to undermine anyone. Unfortunately, it became our albatross.

“When Oyetola took over in 2018, we inherited debt. What we did was to find means of making things work for the four years we have governed Osun. We didn’t add to the debt we inherited,” Omipidan stated.