Ill-Motive Mushroom NGO And Its Unhealthy Alliance At The Expense Of Good Governance

Coalition Of Groups For Good Governance (C3g) Presented To The Media On The 13th July, 2015 At The Press Conference Held At Freedom House, Odiolowo Str, Osogbo, State Of Osun

With utmost sense of conscientiousness we take pleasure in this harmonious interface with one of the most imperative realms in our society, “the men of pen”, the mouth piece between masses and the government. We are highly comfortable with your presence among us today. You are specially treasured for honouring the invitation of C3G, an NGO with international coverage, specialized in catalyzing good governance and the all-inclusive assessment of our leaders. Here with us are reliable and vibrant NGOs with remarkable antecedent in Nigeria and State of Osun and our perspective is an identical one on the issue at hand.

It is blissful news that the new administration of President Mohammadu Buhari calmed the nervousness at its peak when he approved for a State and Local government the sum of N 804.7 billion bailout to annul the hullabaloo of nonpayment of workers salary by the state government in Nigeria. The same government of Mohammadu Buhari which came to water the soil at this trial period is fortunately link with Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s struggle for good leadership at the federal level. We commend this action of President Mohammadu Buhari, his government has begun on a brighter page.

Like snow, so clear like crystal, the cause of the impediment in the payment of workers’ salary is the 50% crash in the global price of crude oil which has a direct negative effect on the statutory federal allocation to the states and before this major cause, there were previous episodes that have initiated the economics mess experienced in the State of Osun and other affected states. In 2013, there was 40 per cent crash in statutory allocation due to the alleged Oil theft of 400, 000 barrel of crude oil per day. Yet, earlier in 2012, the responsibility of the states in Nigeria, Osun inclusive was unwarrantedly expanded when the demand for the implementation of minimum wages increase was approved by the federal government without consultation and at the expense of the states’ government.

Despite the above ugly experience in term of economics reality of State of Osun, she has the second largest civil servants in Nigeria, second to Lagos and she is one of the states that receive the least allocation from the federation account. Yet, the civil servants and their salary remain constant at N3.6 billion at the expense of the federal allocation that fell to N1.3 billion and the IGR of N1.6 billion monthly. The sum of federal allocation and IGR in every month cannot pay the salary of the civil servants of Osun. It is on this basis that (C3G) expects the civil servants under the umbrella of NLC to reason with the government instead of calculatingly making thing difficult for the government of State of Osun.

This simple addition and subtraction unveils what the government of State of Osun was passing through vis-à-vis the payment of workers’ salary: N1.3 billion Federal allocations to Osun + 1.6 billion IGR =2.9 billion and not equivalent to N3.6 billion monthly workers’ salary. Yet, apart from workers’ salary, huge responsibility lies on the government.

It is important to appreciate this government for making a covenant to the people of State of Osun that the IGR will sporadically increase, and today, it is fulfilled. The IGR is now raised from N300 million to N1.6 billion in a month. It promised unprecedented infrastructure for the people of State of Osun, today we have schools, roads, Opan Imon, feeding of primary school students and other land mark achievements.

C3G have closely monitored the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola since the first year of its first term and in pursuant to the outcome of our research, his government is rated high among the performing governments in Nigeria. Meanwhile, the nonpayment of workers salary and the non-proportional reactions from the workers and the opposition party in the State of Osun is such a new attracting point to C3G and other NGOs in the state. Our findings revealed that the present situation in the State of Osun contrary to what some people project is not in any way the fault of the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola but rather some external economic reality that created such pitiable consequence on some states in Nigeria in which State of Osun is inclusive.

We appreciate the growing current understanding between the government and Labour in the state; this is a moment we have waited for. A responsible government never stands and watches while its workers suffer, and responsible government we have at the center and in the state, thus the better time has come. The Labour need to realize that no season is forever and this trial period can’t linger for ever. At this uneasy moment, Nigeria and government deserve species of workers who can reason beyond selves’ interest.

We condemn the role of some unknown inedible mushroom (bread and butter) NGOs that suddenly came up within a week with the aim of causing confusion in the state, it is a blatant abuse of freedom of association, where association is formed at the detriment of the peace and stability of the state. We have it on good authority that these politically engineered groups were sponsored by the rejected and embittered opposition party to disrupt the peace and stability of State of Osun. That is the reason why it was championed by people that lack integrity and have never been found in a constructive and progressive mission in the history of State of Osun and Nigeria. We hereby tagged them as sycophant political group and are unknown in the civil society realm. We are convinced that the NLC must have learnt some lessons with the manner the protest were hijacked and the mission was turned upside down by these sycophants who claimed to be Civil Society Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State.

The uninformed ill-intentioned bread and butter groups build on the petition written by Justice Folahanmi Oloyede which is a nullity from the eye of the law. It is unambiguous that the petition forwarded to the State of Osun House of Assembly by Justice Folahanmi Oloyede is not known to law and not capable of initiating any form of impeachment process what so ever. In pursuant to section 188 (1) (2) and section 1 (1) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the petition in question is a mere letter that does not deserve any attention.

Also sadden is the one-sidedness reporting by some media, within the few days of the upheaval, many false, fallacious and unverified stories have been reported and published by journalists and the media. Pitiable it is when our journalists who are expected to build the society through propagation of truth suddenly became fuel to an unwarranted crisis. There is an ongoing investigation on the “journalists of doom” we have in the state and an appropriate legal sanction would be upheld against such journalists.

We hereby appeal to the workers of the State of Osun not to act as medium to be used by the enemies of good governance to derail this highly rated government of State of Osun. It is crystal clear that the delay in the payment of the salary was caused by external factors which are beyond the control of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s government.

Thanks for your attention.
FOR: Coalition of Groups for Good Governance
Comrade Waheed Adediran
Chairman C3G
08033224079
Barr. Abdulsalam Abdulfatai
Secretary General C3G
07033465033
Comr Saka Waheed, Act Nat. Cord
Committee for Democracy and Rights of the People (CDRP)

08030771570
Comr Onaolapo Abbas, Chairman
The Group for Good Governance (Triple G)
08035397819
Chief Oduwole Bashir, Chairman
De-Raufs Volunteer Group
08060703442
Comr Kamarudeen Bamidele Nat. Secretary
Center for Voters Awareness (CVA)
08035029684