Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun says he has approved a N4 billion bond for the payment of the state retirees under the contributory pension scheme.

Mr Adeleke made this known in his speech on Thursday at the Workers Day celebration at Fakunle High School, Osogbo.

He explained that the bond was for retirees in the state and local governments.

“I have just approved, through the Office of the head of service, the payment of bond for retirees under the contributory pension scheme worth over N4 billion.

“Civil service parastatal, secondary schools, tertiary institutions, Uniosun Teaching Hospital retirees will get N2,175, 280,322.54 while N2,098,466, N528.87 will be given to local governments and primary schools retirees,” he said.

The governor expressed commitment to the welfare of workers and residents of the state.

“As a sub-national government, we have been collaborating with the federal government to ease the burden of economic hardship.

“As a matter of policy, we have gone out of our way to ensure the success of the federal government’s efforts. We back the centre to reform the national economy and ease the burden on our people.

“At the state level, our government is repositioning the state economy to serve the people. We are managing state resources in various ways so that no sector is left behind.

“While we are not borrowing to fund governance, we have reduced the inherited state debt by over 40 per cent. The Debt Management Office confirmed this much in its recent reports,” he said.

Mr Adeleke said his administration was rebuilding the state economy to benefit the people, adding that “through the government’s local content policies, our professionals, suppliers and artisans are fully engaged, Osun money is servicing Osun people.”

Christopher Arapasopo, chairman of the Osun chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), commended the governor for paying salary arrears owed by the past administration, approving and paying promotion areas of workers, paying N75,000 as the new minimum wage, among others.

Mr Arapasopo appealed for the provision of housing and vehicle refurbishing loans to workers, training and retraining of workers, and recruitment of more people into the civil service.

(NAN)