A security expert, Mr. Lekan Jackson-Ojo, has said that the failure of Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, to pay workers in the last five months could trigger insecurity and other forms of crimes in the state.
Jackson-Ojo told our correspondent in Osogbo on Friday that it was criminal to leave workers’ salaries unpaid while the governor was funding campaigns of his party’s candidates.
Workers under the aegis of the Trade Union Congress, led by their chairman, Mr. Olatunji Akinyemi, had protested alleged non-payment of five months salaries earlier in the week.
Jackson-Ojo said workers might engage in corrupt practices while traders and artisans might be lured into crimes if they did not enjoy patronage from civil servants who had not been paid.
“Aregbesola should pay workers; it is their rights to be paid. He should not allow them to be protesting before paying them. It is unfair,” he said.
The governor had since appealed to the workers to be calm, while promising that their salaries would be paid soon.
The media aide to the governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, in a statement made available to our correspondent, blamed the development on economic crisis in the country.
“While we recognise the right of the workers to seek payment of that which is legitimately theirs, we wish to repeat for the umpteen time that the unfortunate owing of salaries running to about three months cannot be divorced from the crushing revenue crisis that has hit Nigeria as a whole,” the governor said.
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