The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Sunday described former interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Chief Bisi Akande, as an exemplary leader whose courage in public service has helped Nigeria in so many dimensions.
 

 
Governor Aregbesola, on the occasion of Akande’s 78th birthday, said Nigeria’s political history would be incomplete without adequate chronicling of the eminent roles played by the former Governor of Osun.
The Governor, through a statement by the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, said Chief Akande brought transparency into governance adding that his tenure as governor of Osun is mostly remembered for the selfless service to the people and the courage he brought into governance.
“Chief Bisi Akande is a democrat if no small status when the history of democratic struggles in Nigeria is written. He was one of those who fought to ensure that the military retreated back to the barracks and he never looked back while the struggle lasted. 
“His emergence as the Governor of Osun in 1999 proved to be one of the best things to have happened to our state. Since the creation of Osun, his administration was the first to give a sense of direction to the future development plans for the state. He might have encountered challenges along the line, but it is worthy of note that Chief Adebisi Akande demonstrated uncommon courage in handling state matters as long as they mattered to the future survival and growth of the state. Today, history has proved Chief Akande’s actions in office as very painful but courageous.”
Aregbesola also recalled the stabilising roles the Ila-born politician played in the formation and nurturing of the All Progressives Congress which he said bailed Nigeria out of the 16 years of the stranglehold of the Peoples Democratic Party.
He added, “In saluting the courage of this eminent elder statesman, we must not fail to recognize his roles in the conception and actual formation of our party, the APC. Chief Akande demonstrated an uncommon agility and vigor in all the activities leading to the successful birth of our party. Today, Nigerians can heave a sigh of relief from the 16 years of misrule that the PDP represented. “
The Governor, while praying for longer life for the politician, said his experience is still very much required for the task of building a virile Nigeria.

 
 

 
A statement, purportedly issued by the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS) in which Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State was accused of “illegally diverting over N7billion of N11.744bilion out of N84billion Paris Club funds accrued to the state by the federal government” (Thisday, January 6) refers.
 
To understand the issues, some questions become pertinent. What is Modulated Salary structure and how applicable is it to Osun state’s salary situation? Was there an agreement, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and labour on the modulation of the latter’s salaries and for what reason? Indeed, what’s the salary status of a typical Osun State civil servant as at December 2016?
 
With a particular focus on Osun State, Modulated Salary structure refers “to the payment of salaries on the basis of what is available. Full salary to Workers in Grade Levels (GL) 1-7 and at least half or more to those on levels from 8 and above.”
 
The existence of an agreement between the government has never been repudiated by Labour. It was indeed the magic wand that bailed the state out of a protracted wage crisis in 2014. In the heat of that crisis, the Aregbesola government placed its cards on the table and gave labour an opportunity to choose between staff rationalization and salary apportionment, or modulation. After intensive deliberations by its congress, labour opted for the latter. Going by the principle behind this agreement, which is still in effect, Osun State could be rightly adjudged to have paid salaries and pensions till December 2016.But this is without prejudice the outstanding which the governor knows would have to be paid as soon as the fortunes of the state improve.
 
Believe it or not, the governor has never stopped expressing his administration’s appreciation to the workers for their sacrifice at a time like this. These facts are understood by Osun workers and their Labour leaders and that is why there has not been any irrational action from the workforce.
Prior to September last year, workers were always paid, based on agreed rates put in place by the Hassan Sunmonu-led Osun State Revenue Apportionment Committee, comprising representatives of labour and other stakeholders. Nonetheless, certain categories of workers had their salaries jerked up in September 2016 as a result of slight improvement in allocations to the state, principal among which was the Paris Club refunds. By way of explanation, workers from GL 1-7 were paid their September to December 2016 salaries 100 per cent; GL 8-10, at 75%; and GL 12 and above, at 50%. Similarly, passive workers, or pensioners, on N1, 000 to N20, 000 collected 100 per cent pensions; while those on N20, 001 to N80, 000 collected N75 per cent; and pensioners on N80, 001 took home 50 per cent. Arrears of balance of 2014 leave bonus were also paid while local government workers and pensioners were not left out.
 
Lest I forget, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) also commended the governor for earmarking N1billion for Osun State University and the jointly-owned Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH). And, in the real sense of it, only a prodigal administration will not prepare for the raining day!
To the best of my knowledge, indigenes and residents of the state alike, especially, those who were around, pre-November 27, 2010, will agree with me that, in spite of its socio-economic peculiarities, Aregbesola was well-prepared for the task ahead as governor.
 
In the area of infrastructure and roads, there is no doubt Osun state has been transformed. For instance, roads from Ijebu-Jesa, my Native Nazareth, and adjoining communities were at a time so impassable that one could simply wonder if there had ever been a government in place. But to our amazement, Aregbesola came on board and changed the narrative by getting those roads fixed pronto. As a matter of fact, not only in Ijesaland were such feats recorded but other parts of the state also felt Aregbesola’s presence.
 
Well, while it is not my intention to bore Nigerians with rhetoric on the governor’s achievements, it is gratifying to note that this mission-minded man of uncommon courage has done excellently well in rekindling the hope of the good people of Osun State who defied all odds on August 9, 2014 to resubmit their political totality and administrative authority to him. Undeterred by the antics of pathological critics whose first instinct is to circumvent, not support, ideas, however innovative, he has to a large extent succeeded in replicating his feat as Commissioner for Works under Bola Tinubu in Osun and I’m sure he’d have done more, but for paucity of funds. Little wonder the opposition is still in shock with regard to Aregbesola’s feat in the state without taking into consideration that it was the shout of ‘Halleluyah’ that brought down the ‘Wall of Jericho’.
 
When the going was good – in terms of allocations accruing to the state, civil servants were paid as and when due. Indeed, Osun was not only at a time rated as the highest paying state in the country, it was also giving ’13th month’ to its workers across board. Apart from the employment and retraining of teachers to compliment the works of existing hands, his government also embarked on the training of some of our students in institutions outside the country. And, when it dawned on us that agriculture was the way to go in the face of challenges confronting the state, his government ‘went back to land.’ So far, so fair! His administration has sent no fewer than 40 of our youth to Germany to learn technical skills in agriculture. Of course, this is in addition to other schemes which overall intention is to restore the lost glory of agriculture. People-friendly policies and programmes were also put in place through which interest-free and subsidized loans were given to farmers. Then, everyone and anyone who had cause to be happy did; and Aregbesola was seen, even by his enemies, as the best thing to happen to our state.
 
Again, while one is not attempting to give approval to delay in salary as a way to go by any responsible government, the state’s present pass is, in my view, not an indefinite inconvenience but a temporary setback which demands the understanding and cooperation of all to surmount. As things stand, Ondo, even with its 13% derivation, is, as we speak, “broke”, with not less than six months in salary arrears to its workers. Only some few weeks back, its workers protested and picketed its Accountant General’s Office for his refusal to pay them just one out of their then-six months’ arrears in salary, pensions and gratuities. The situation is not any different in Taraba, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Oyo, Kogi, Kwara, Zamfara, Delta, Imo, Enugu, even Anambra States.
 
At the national level, it is not a fairer tale! For example, just some few days back, the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) threatened indefinite strike by mid-January, 2017, over “unpaid salary, non-implementation of the National Health Act and poor infrastructure in the sector”. And, officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) once threatened to start obtaining bribe from motorists if they were not paid their November salaries and allowances before December 25, 2016. Indeed, the list is endless!
 
But, how for God’s sake did we get here? Basically, it will be unfair and stunningly ignorant to believe that Nigeria’s slide into recession started with Muhammadu Buhari’s administration; that the events which culminated in Goodluck Jonathan’s exit from Aso Rock started on March 28, 2015; or that the unfriendly economic situation which succeeded in ‘throwing 1.7 million Nigerians into the job market in nine months’ was a product of the present administration’s ‘planlessness’. In the case of Osun, in as much as we all agree that Nigeria’s failure as a country did not start just yesterday, it may therefore amount to standing the truth on its head to assume that the only way out of this situation is by singing from the same, old hymn book of disappointment as if such is a sure ritual to accessing Bola Ige House!
 
At the risk of immodest, Aregbesola’s leadership style has demonstrated to us that if we put things right with regard to the resources that accrue to the state, especially from agriculture and other mineral resources, we will have enough to the extent that we’ll not have to run cap in hand to Abuja for handouts.
 
Yes! Our state is endowed with natural resources. But will the almighty Federal Government allow us to take ownership of them?
•Komolafe writes in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)

The Federal Government has said it would release N400m to five states for the continuation of the its Homegrown School Feeding Programme this week.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande on Monday.
 

 
He listed the states as Ogun, Oyo, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Osun states.
“When added to Anambra where the school feeding programme kicked off last year, there would now be six states implementing the scheme using the Federal Government’s funds.
“At least, 5.5 million Nigerian primary school pupils would be fed for 200 school days under the free Homegrown School Feeding Programme, according to the 2016 budget, which has an allocation of N93.1bn appropriated for the feeding scheme,” he said in the statement.
Akande also payment for the Conditional Cash Transfer programme has started in all the nine pilot states.
The states are Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Osun and Oyo.
He said the Federal Government was aware that one participants were being asked to pay application fees for the intervention programmes, urging Nigerians not to pay such.
Akande said, “We have been receiving reports about instances where Nigerians are being asked to pay application fees for SIP forms. We want to make it clear that such action is illegal and could warrant criminal prosecution.”

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has urged the pensioners in the state to show understanding in demanding for the balance of their pension since they were also aware of the global economic recession and the financial situation of the state.
 

 
 
Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has urged the pensioners in the state to show understanding in demanding for the balance of their pension since they were also aware of the global economic recession and the financial situation of the state.
The governor said this while addressing members of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park in Osogbo, capital of Osun State, where they held special prayers in Islamic and Christianity ways at the weekend.
The NUP members under the aegis of Triangular Group of Pensioners offered prayers for Osun State and Nigeria and sought the intervention of God on the economic recession that has bedevilled the nation in which Osun state was not exempted.
Speaking on the occasion, Governor Aregbesola who was invited to the venue by the pensioners as a special guest expressed delight that a huge number of retirees in the state acknowledged his commitment to their welfare and assured them that the New Year would be better than last year.
“Just bear with us and show understanding for now. I can assure you that a better day has come. Our Pensioners would be well catered for. Their gratuities would be sorted out once there are resources to do so”.
The governor said, “We implemented 142 per cent increase in pension which other rich and buoyant states including Lagos have not implemented. No state government has paid as much as we have paid pensioners in Osun. I paid 9.5 billion to pensioners alone.”
“The workers and pensioners are on my priority lists, In fact, we made  12 billion in Osun in 2016 and I paid 20.4 b to workers and Pensioners alone. And that notwithstanding, we are working and there are infrastructural development in the state”.
“We are building schools and we are constructing roads across the state. We are doing our best within the available resources. Our opponents should stop playing dirty politics with this pension issue. I expect the pensioners to show understanding as our government remains committed to their welfare.”
“Surprisingly, some people said they set up IDP camp for pensioners. We shall never experience IDP in Osun. We will keep praying for states where there were IDP’s camps to overcome their problem because it is not a good thing to be displaced in one’s state, Aregbesola explained.
The factional NUP Chairman in the state, Prince Rotimi Adelugba said the pensioners on his side were grateful to Aregbesola for his magnanimity and cautioned other retired civil servants in the state not to play dirty politics with the issue of the payment of the pension by the state government.
He commended Aregbesola for paying the arrears of their pension up to December 2016. He said the pensioners are in full supports of the Aregbesola’s administration and assured the governor of their unalloyed loyalty.

The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has charged university graduates in Nigeria to shift attention from white collar jobs and embrace agriculture as a means of stemming the tide of unemployment.
The Governor stated that the present economic situation has shown Nigerians the need to encourage farming as the only alternative to crude oil.
 

 
Aregbesola gave the charge while addressing a gathering during the 6th convocation ceremony of Fountain University, Osogbo.
He noted that there is no aspect of life that can do without agriculture, saying Nigerian graduates must henceforth stop searching for formal jobs that seems to be no longer in existence.
The Governor called for productivity, resilience and hard-work among Nigerians, stressing that the present nation’s economy demands one to be self-employed.
According to him, there is no other alternative to sustain our economy than for us to build the required interest in agriculture and brace up with anything that can promote food production capacity.
Aregbesola held that Nigerians must, as a matter of urgency, invest in things that would prevent farming in the next five years if truly the nation was ready to overcome her present economic challenges.
Lamenting on the dwindling revenues from the crude oil production, Aregbesola said unless the country sees the need to promote agriculture, efforts to bring back the dwindling economy may be gloomy.
“There is need for us especially our young graduate to lead the nation in promoting agriculture as the only realistic surviving alternative to economy.
“We must not but embrace farming because it is only agriculture that has direct links to all aspects of life.
“Nigeria has grown to the stage through which her food production capacity must be urgently expanded to meet the general needs of the citizenry and as well enhance exportation.
“The time to enhance productivity has come. We must all embrace productivity. We must produce whatever we desire to consume”, he added.
Congratulating the graduating students, Aregbesola charged them to adapt to the virtues they acquired in the institution.
He called on them to get prepared for the challenges ahead and life after university which he described as “challenging”.
“You must all prepare the challenges ahead especially at this period of over saturated tendencies of labour market. You need grim determination to succeed. You must be rational and critical in the application of the knowledge you have acquired”.
He used the occasion to appeal to those who are using the precious and reputable name of Islam to perpetrate violence, saying “violence is directly antithetical to Islam.”
“All hands must be on deck to end terrorism in the country as the act is tantamount to the tenets of Islam.”
Earlier in his lecture, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, charged both private and public organisations in the country on the need to invest more in education.
He said the country has gone to a stage where education should be seen by all as a bedrock for national development, hence calls for the need to encourage participation in both basic and higher education.
Prof. Rasheed the Executive Secretary, National University Commission, NUC, said all hands must be on deck to promote tertiary education.
He implored stakeholders in the private and public institutions in the country to as a matter of necessary rescue the nation from her present education backwardness by establishing more universities in the nooks and crannies.
The Guest Speaker said Nigeria is the only country in Africa with presence of minimum university compared with her population, saying “we need more universities if we want to compete favourably with our counterparts in the comity of nations”.
Speaking on the low level of university education in Nigeria, Prof. Rasheed attributed most of the challenges being faced by higher education seekers in the country to what he described as “abysmal inadequate number of the universities in the country.”
According to him, the endowed Nigerians need to be encouraged on the need to invest hugely in education by establishing more universities across the length and breath of the nation.
He added, “If truly we are ready as a nation to improve on our education standard and compete competently and effectively with our counterparts in terms of technology, science and other aspects of human life, thus, we must not fail to improve on our university system.
“We must see education especially university education as the only way through which the nation’s challenges could be tackled and solved because it is only an educated nation that can ply successfully through the present worldly challenges.
“Once we have enough universities, then the issues accompanying university admission would be a thing of the past because most of our children who found it difficult to be enrolled at the universities are doing so because the nation lacked adequate universities that can accommodate the population of the admission seekers.
However, Prof. Rasheed said National University Commission has been working tremendously to review most of the curricula of the existing universities by making them more flexible, competent and interesting so as to attract more participation in view of enhancing national development.
“We have strived harder to upgrade the academic qualities and standards of our university system as we are developing policies that would help to move university education forward”, he stressed.
Prof. Rasheed said the Commission would not relent in ensuring that universities in the country take their proper roles in promoting the required quality and standard in university education.
He therefore called on the management of the existing universities in the country to do the needful by improving on their admission criteria so as to accommodate better and achieve an improved university participation and enrollment.
In his remarks, the Acting Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Abdullateef Usman called for better funding of university education.
He said the country can only develop if proper attention is given by all towards the provision of quality education.
Prof. Usman called on government to further invest in education saying doing this would save the country and as well serve as panacea to economic growth and development.
According to him, as much is expected to be done by governments at all levels on improving the standard of university education just as there is need to encourage better funding.
“Our governments must do more in educating citizens who are expected to pilot the future affairs of the nation.
“If we really want to develop capacity in quality education and churning out graduates equipped with required virtues, thus no stone must be left unturned in ensuring better and adequate funding.
“The governments are expected to do the needful by earmarking better funds to support education both in terms of academic infrastructures and finances.
Prof. Usman, who congratulated 128 graduating students, implored them to multiply the virtues acquired in the university as they enter the new world of challenges.

The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has commended the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari, ‎Nigeria Armed forces and other security organisations in subduing the activities of Boko Haram group in the North-Eastern part of the country.
‎

The Governor while addressing the people at the grand finale of the 2017 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration, at the Military Cenotaph, Osogbo lauded security agencies in the country for destroying the Sambisa forest base of the group. ‎
Aregbesola stated that the nation will not forget the gallant soldiers and security officials whose lives have been lost in the cause of putting down the Boko Haram uprising.
He commiserated with the Government and people of the Northern States of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Taraba and others caught in the throes of the group, whose people have been brutalised, killed or kidnapped and many who are now in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.
Aregbesola who described peace as the indispensable means of existence, said the roles being played by the security agents in the country to continuously engender peaceful coexistence among Nigerians can never be over-emphasized since the discovery of Nigeria.
He held that the impacts of the armed forces towards the realisation of peace, unity and stability of Nigerian society had been a driven force in placing the country towards the path of greatness.‎
Governor Aregbesola added that the annual remembrance of fallen heroes and survivors of the Nigeria Army will be incomplete, if the country fails to retrace its past and device popular means of living in unity.‎
Aregbesola said, “Boko Haram represents clear and unmitigated evil and is unreservedly condemned. Of course, any group that embrace violence cannot be regarded as representing Islam or any religion.
“Every religion preaches peace, love and good neighbourliness. We must not forget however the roles of extra-judicial killing and disregard for due process of law in the emergence of this group and the havoc it wreaked on our nation and people.
“Law enforcement agencies must therefore shun arbitrariness, impunity and disregard for the laws of the land.
‎
“I must commend the efforts of our armed forces and other security organisations, particularly the commander-in-chief, President Muhammadu Buhari, the service chiefs, every soldier and security operative in the region, in subduing this group and for destroying its base in the Sambisa forest.
“There are those who still daily fan the embers of religious discord, inciting one religious group against another. Even ordinary cases of law infraction requiring law enforcement action must be projected to fit into the narrative of ethno-regional and religious division in a way that promote mutual antagonism and distrust.
“We must all in our little (or big) ways refrain from anything capable of inciting one group against another and precipitate or exacerbate conflict”. ‎
‎
Aregbesola stated that the best way to honour the memory of the country’s departed heroes and making sure their efforts are not in vain is for all Nigerians to prevent the outbreak of conflicts and hostilities.
He also noted that all governments, institutions and agencies, must guard the constitution jealously to prevent its breakdown.
According to him, “We must protect our federalism, defend the right of opposition and minorities in our midst.
“We must all embrace the democratic method and means for pressing demands and conflict resolution. May the peace of God reign in our land and may our soldiers death never be in vain”. The governor emphasised.‎
‎

Over 3,000 Members of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) in Osun State under the aegis of Triangular Group of Pensioners have lauded the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola for paying the arrears of their pension up to December 2016.
The pensioners staged a peaceful procession in Osogbo, the state capital at the weekend to demonstrate their supports to Aregbesola’s administration and assured the governor of their unalloyed loyalty.
The NUP Chairman, Prince Rotimi Adelugba said the pensioners were grateful to Aregbesola for his magnanimity and cautioned other retired civil servants in the state not to play dirty politics with the issue of the payment of their pension by the state government.
He said “The state government has set up a committee headed by a veteran labour leader and former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Hassan Sumonu to fine-tune the issue of salary and pension payment in the state and suggest the best approach to the salary and pension issues in the state”.

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has described a section of retired workers who addressed themselves as Internally Displaced Pensioners (IDP) in the state as bunch of ingrates.
Aregbesola spoke at the weekend when the Triangular Group of Pensioners held peaceful procession in Osogbo, to demonstrate their support to his government and assured him of their unalloyed loyalty.
He said his administration gave priority attention to retired workers and multiplied money for payment of pension by five times and paid as and when due until November 2014 when recession set in.
Aregbesola reiterated that his government borrowed as much as 25 billion Naira from banks to pay workers’ salaries and pension and stop it when it could no longer cope with the huge wage and pension.
About 3,000 members of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) under the aegis of Triangular Group of Pensioners lauded Aregbesola for paying the arrears of their pension up to December 2016.
Governor Aregbesola who justified his love to workers and retired ones explained that Osun state is the only state in the federation that implement 142% pension increment approved by the Abacha military regime, adding that between 2015 and 2016, his administration had paid N9.6billion to retired workers alone.
“We implemented 142% increase in pension which other rich and buoyant states including Lagos has not implemented. No state government has paid as much as we have paid pensioners in Osun. We paid 9.5 billion to pensioners alone.
“We shall never experience IDP in Osun. We will keep praying for those states where there are IDP camps to overcome their problem because it is not a good thing to be displaced in one’s state. I can assure you that a better day has come.
“Our Pensioners would be well catered for. Their gratuities would be sorted out once there are resources to do so. Just bear with us and show understanding for now.
“The workers and pensioners are on my priority lists, In fact, we made N12 billion in Osun in 2016 and I paid N20.4 b to workers and pensioners alone. And that notwithstanding, we are working and there are infrastructural development all over the state.
“We are building schools and we are constructing roads across the state. We are doing our best within the available resources. Our opponents should stop playing dirty politics with this pension issue,” Aregbesola explained.
Earlier, the NUP Chairman, Prince Rotimi Adelugba said the pensioners were grateful to Aregbesola for his magnanimity and cautioned other retired civil servants in the state not to play politics with the issue of the payment of the pension by the state government.
He said: “The state government set up a committee headed by a veteran labour leader and former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Hassan Sumonu to fine-tune the issue of salary and pension payment in the state and suggest the best approach to the salary and pension issues in the state.
Osun Internally Displaced Pensioners Are Ingrates – Aregbesola
A section of pensioners held peaceful procession in Osogbo to demonstrate their support for Gov. Aregbesola
“The committee comprised leaders of labour unions in the state and after a comprehensive analysis of the financial situation of the state, the committee proffered a way forward and we all saw reasons to accept the recommendation of the committee in the best interest of the generality of the workers, pensioners and the good people of our dear state.
“We all agree that the state government should not downsize because we didn’t want any worker in the state to be sacked. Therefore, the only option we had was to agree with the modulated salary scheme in which the junior officers from level 01 to level 07 would get their full salary but the senior staff from level 08 and above would be earning half of their salary and the same thing applicable to the pensioners.
“It was agreed that the modulated salary would be revisited once the economy of the state improves and that was exactly what Governor Aregbesola did recently when the modulated salary scheme was reviewed upward. The Governor has never reneged in this arrangement but some retirees allowed politicians to use them to embarrass the state and that was unfortunate”.
“Though, we also need the money but we realised that we must show understanding since we also know the financial status of Osun State government. The state government has paid up our pension up till December 2016. We are aware that the payment of pension gulp N9.4 from the coffers of the state government and this is commendable.”
He said the retirees in the state want more from the state government and urged the Governor to sustain the payment of their monthly pension.
He also urged the Governor to create special units in all state hospital where senior citizens including the pensioners would be attended to when they need medical attention.
He condemned the action of some pensioners who claimed that they set up Internally Displaced Pensioners camp whereas they were not displaced. He warned that such action could send a wrong signal about the state.
He said NUP sympathised with Nigerians who are in IDP camp in some Northern states and prayed God to give them succour.
“We also commend our dear Governor Aregbesola for his love for the workers and the pensioners in the state.
“The Governor paid the backlog of the arrears of 142% of pension increase to eligible pensioners. We are grateful to Governor Aregbesola for jacking up the monthly pension bill from N200 million to 600 million,” the NUP chairman said.
The retirees terminated the procession at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park and held special prayers in Islamic and Christianity ways.
They offered prayers for Osun State and Nigeria and sought the intervention of God on the economic recession that has bedevilled the nation in which Osun state was not exempted.

The Osun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has paraded three cattle herdsmen, allegedly terrorising a farm settlement in Ikoui, Isokan Local Government Area of the state.
The arrest, which was made at about 5:30 am on Thursday, followed a tip-off from the community.
Two of the suspects, Hamisu and Lawal are said to be from Gbangudu Local Government, while Musa is from Gusau Local Government all in Zamfara state.
 

 
According to the State Commandant of the NSCDC, Philips Ayodele, information got to the operatives from the office of the kabiyesi (king), which intelligence officers acted upon.
He said the rustlers, who were five in number, were armed with charms, guns and some weapons, invaded and destroyed the crops on the Onikoyi farm settlement.
Mr Ayodele told reporters that the farmers had on several occasions, been attacked by the rustlers.
Ayodele said: “We recovered a lot of weapons, charms, locally made guns with gun powders and local bullets. The farmers in that area have no peace. They don’t allow them to rest due to their heinous activities on the farm. We thank God we are able to apprehend these notorious persons, ”he said.
The NSCDC commandant also stated that the rustlers, who claimed to be hunters, could not be identified by the Osun State leader of Miyeti Allah, an association for the Fulani Herdsmen after he was briefed by the security outfit.
“Before you can be a hunter you must know the terrain of the area you are operating in, but these people are not from Osun and they still insist they are hunters.
“The Miyeti Allah in this state cannot recognise them after we spoke to them about the arrest and we have also warned them to always report rustlers who are not from Osun State so that we would be able to identify those who have invaded the state,” Mr Ayodele emphasised.
He urged members of the community to always supply the corps with vital information that would help them rid the society of people with criminal intent, lauding the supports they have received from sister agencies in the state.

Over 3000 Pensioners yesterday held a prayer session for Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola at the Freedom Park, Osogbo.
The pensioners had before starting their programme held a walk between Fakunle High School down to Olaiya junction and towards the freedom park sing solidarity songs with the governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbeosla who they revealed has tried and shown much sympathy towards the cause of the pensioners.
Recall the state governor had paid the sum of 14.3bn naira to clear salary and pension arrears in last week of December 2016. A large chunk of that fund went into paying the 21,000 strong pensioners in the state of Osun.