As the tripetite committee of the federal government is yet to agree with organized labour on new minimum wage, the Osun State House of Assembly has passed a bill increasing the salaries of some political appointees in the state.
This is as a civil society coalition, The Osun Mastermind, TOM, described the said action of the lawmakers as insensitive and illogical.
The bill which tagged, "The Osun State Public /Political Office Holders Revised Remuneration Package Amendment No 2, Bill 2024", scaled through third reading on the floor the State House of Assembly on Monday.
The Speaker, Adewale Egbedun disclosed that a clean copy of the bill be forwarded to the Governor, Ademola Adeleke for assent.
According to him, the bill is aimed to improve the standard of living of the Public and few political office holders in tandem with the five points agenda of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
“Public Officers, Part Time Board Members and thier Chairmen members would benefit more from the Renumeration while the Legislators are exempted from the package,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director, TOM, Professor Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, while addressing journalist in Osogbo said the bill passed by the house is obnoxious, considering that civil servant are still struggling to survive on their salaries.
While describing the political appointment in the state as too large for comfort, the group urged Governor Ademola Adeleke not to assent to such bill in order not to over burden the already stretched resources of the State.
His words, "In the same Osun State where many civil servants are currently finding it really hard to survive, the House of Assembly, instead of making more pro-people laws, is passing such obnoxious bills that so flagrantly disrespects the mood of the average Osun dweller.
"At a time we all should be condemning the needlessly large population of political appointments already made by the Governor, the Assembly wants to further increase the pressure on our scarce resources. This is not only disappointing, as we would ordinarily expect more productive actions from a youth-dominated Assembly, it is also irresponsible.
"We call on Governor Adeleke to decline assent to this obnoxious bill as it seeks to over-burden the already over-stretched resources of our ailing State. We cannot continue to add dead weight to the shoulders of a State that is just struggling to get out of the mountain of indebtedness that it was buried under a couple of years ago".
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