Activists protest, warn banks against giving fresh loans to Osun

Human rights activists under the aegis of Civil Society Organisation and the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State on Wednesday staged a rally in Osogbo against some of the policies of the state government.
The protesters, who marched through some major streets in Osogbo asked the Federal Government and banks to stop giving fresh loans to the state government.
The protesters, including some elderly persons were armed with placard with various inscriptions such as: Aregbesola, pay workers’ outstanding salaries; Aregbesola has killed over 500 pensioners in Osun; Aregbesola has destroyed education in Osun.
They also chanted antigovernment songs as they marched through the streets.
The group said all the loans obtained by the administration were mismanaged, stressing that the alleged mismanagement was the main cause of the financial crisis in the state.
They said the governor had mortgaged the future of the unborn generations in the state who would repay the loans which had become a huge burden on the state.
The group also berated Aregbesola over the current indefinite strike embarked upon by members of the Association of Resident Doctors at LAUTECH and Osun State Association of Medical and Dental Officers.
The leader of the CSCEOS, Mr. Sulaiman Adeniyi a,so asked the governor to stop paying half salaries to workers in the state. He said this was not fair to the workers, who he said were being paid peanuts.
Adeniyi therefore called on Aregbesola to stop anti-workers agenda such as; payment of half salaries, retrenchment of workers, request for BVN and statement of Account, among others.
He asked the governor to commence the full payment of workers’ salaries and retirees pension dues as well as payment of gratuities of the state retirees from 2010 till date.
The protest letter read in part, “We have severally refrained ourselves from concluding that the house is in connivance with the executive arm of government to maintain a criminal silence on this issue, but when we consider the buoyancy of an average Nigerian politician, which makes it possible for him to access healthcare anywhere in the world at whatever cost.
“We might insinuate that you have kept quiet on this serious matter because you might not be directly affected.

“Furthermore, the attempt of the government to raise the IGR of the state, which has brought about a regime of unrealistic tax impositions on the citizenry, is sending many people away from the state, while others are developing serious health problems arising from fear, unfortunately with no access to healthcare due to the doctor’s strike.”