He accused his predecessor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, of hurriedly reaching an agreement with the labour force on the wage as one of the landmines buried on the way of his administration.
He said Alao-Akala’s sole aim was to ensure that the new administration “was dead on arrival.”
Ajimobi made the observations in his maiden broadcast to the people of the state, specifically on the issue of the minimum wage.
He recalled that less than a week after he assumed office, the landmines allegedly buried on his way began to wreck their havoc and the first to erupt was the N18, 000 minimum wage issue.
He maintained that with the present financial position of the state, his government would be borrowing N200m monthly to be able to pay the minimum wage since the total revenue accruing to the state government is about N4. 2bn while the minimum wage would rise to N4.4bn from the current wage bill of N2.9bn.
He said, “By deductive implication, it was obvious to all and sundry that there was no way the state government could pay this booby-trap minimum wage, without pronouncing its own failure to the people, ab initio.
“Further insight into the finances of the state revealed that the out-gone government dipped its hands into the N3.9bn, which was the amount realised from the sale of government quarters.
“The amount had hitherto been pencilled down for the cushioning of pensioners’ sufferings. In its bid to fritter off this heritage, the out-gone government, five days before its exit, hurriedly spent N3bn out of this money.”
By Olalekan Adetayo, Ibadan Courtesy Of: Punch
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