The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has reiterated that his government is not immune to the pains of workers in the state resulting from the non-payment of salaries.
The governor who made the remark while receiving the High Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Australia, Jonathan Richardson who paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House in Osogbo, appealed to workers in the state to be calm as their period of hardship occasioned by the delay in the payment of salaries will be a thing of the past before the end of June.
He pointed out that, as the head of the state’s administration, he is with workers and that he feels their pain.
“I want to appeal to workers in the state to be calm as their period of hardship caused by the delay in the payment of salaries will in a matter of weeks be a thing of the past.
“We are with them in their pains, we are not immune to any of their pains. I have not received any salary ever since I became the Governor of the state.
“I urge workers to take heart, in no distant time, at least, before the end of this month, we will all put this terrible experience behind us,” the governor said.
Governor Aregbesola stressed that the state is eager to partner with Australia for the benefit that will come to the state and Australia as a country, noting that apart from gold and other resources, the state also has a large deposit of gemstones.
Aregbesola added that the mining licence that the state gave to an Australian company is small compared to the mineral deposit that the state is blessed with.
“We have a lot of potentials in mining, Agriculture and technology. As important as mining and agriculture are, acquisition of knowledge is quite important to development.
“We look forward to the contribution of countries like yours. Whether we like it or not, a society without skilled people will soon fizzle out.
“We are eager to partner with Australia for the benefits that will both come to us. We are struggling hard to develop our state on every facet,” he said.
Speaking earlier, Richardson held that his country is ready to offer necessary assistance to develop the economy of Osun.
The envoy commended the people of Nigeria for the peaceful transition from one civil rule to another, saying the negative view of Nigeria to foreigners is due to lack of information.
He stressed that Australia is ready to partner with Osun having realised that the state has potentials in the area of tourism, agriculture, mining among other areas.
“We think we have a lot to offer in mining, agriculture, tourism. Some of these area is what we will like to partner with Nigeria with strong focus on public sector and capacity building.
“We are happy to inform your government on how we can help in some of the areas,” the High Commissioner stressed.
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