Ondo: Akeredolu Promises To Clear Workers’ Salary Arrears Before Leaving Office

By Ayodele Oni

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo has promised to clear the arrears of salaries owed civil servants in the state before he leaves office.

The governor said he was pained that his government is owing workers, blaming the outbreak of COVID 19 in 2020 for the problem.

Two years after the pandemic that left much of the world’s economies prostrate the governor, said the impact of the global pandemic  has continued to take its toll on resources of the state.

He said he’s worried that despite serious efforts to make workers of the state happy with timely payment of salaries, the current economic realities have not allowed him to fulfill that responsibility.

The Secretary to the State Government, (SSG), Princess Oladunni Odu, spoke on behalf of the Governor at a public forum in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

Odu said: “Governor Akeredolu and the state government will leave this state better than we met it.

Recall that the present administration inherited seven months of unpaid workers salaries and backlog of gratuities for retirees, when it came into office.

The administration has paid some of the inherited workers benefits but since the outbreak of COVID 19, during which workers could not come to offices, fresh unpaid salaries started to accumulate.

The government scribe continues “Yes, we have our lapses and weaknesses because we have not been able to pay four months salary and if the Governor is here today, he would say it because he feels pained that he can not pay salaries as and when due.

“It is because we were not prepared for covid-19. Covid came and everything went down and we are yet to recover from covid-19.

“You will remember when Governor Akeredolu came on board, he met seven months salary arrears and within a short time, he did pay six months of the seven months arrears.

“The Governor believes a labourer deserves his wages and the wages should be paid as and when due, but he has promised at several fora that he would not leave the state without paying all the salaries to Workers.”