When I read writeups like the one in the Tribune recently about a planned sack of civil servants, and the allegation that PFA deductions from salaries of staff of higher institutions have not been remitted to the appropriate quarters I am disturbed by the jaundiced outlook of such reports. The report also added that the striking staff complained about tax deductions being too high. It is becoming popular trend in Nigeria now to set civil servants against the government of the day when elections are approaching. It happened with Akande in Osun, Oni in Ekiti and recently with Fayemi in the same state. The name for it is simple blackmail! I am not a government spokesperson. I dont live in Osun and I am not from there but as someone who has worked in the civil service before, specifically in the administration of a higher institution, I can say with some measure of correctness that this is NOT an Osun State government issue. I stand to be corrected. Every higher institution has a governing board that has its own operational dynamics. Sometimes, even tax deductions are not remitted by the administration of these institutions to the appropriate government agencies. Federal institutions in Ekiti were owing Ekiti state over N2b in taxes as at March this year. A newspaper reported today that Federal agencies in Osun owe the state government over N3b in unremitted taxes. These are monies already deducted from the salaries of staff but not remitted by the institutions. Same applies to even the Ekiti state university that takes subvention from the state monthly, yet was not remitting taxes until recently. So, they should be talking to their Governing Board about those funds. Furthermore, to the best of my knowledge, the tax law is administered and rates fixed by a Federal gazette which is a public document and can be accessed by anyone to compute how much he should pay as tax. It is not a state issue and it is simply misleading and mischievous to try and make it one. One of the issues civil servants had with Fayemi was his insistence that the law be followed. That is how to run a country. Get people to do right! Can you imagine a Professor on over N600k/month going on strike because he wants to continue paying less than N5k/month as tax? I have said over and over again that the real problem of our society is not the ordinary man on the street but the so-called ignorant elite. we all love good things but when called upon to make them happen, we fight like babies whose biscuits have been snatched and resort to blackmail. What do you have to say about Federal colleges of education and Polytechnics that have been shut for six months and eleven months respectively? Who is making that an issue as regards 2015? The standard retirement age nationwide is 60 years. Why do Osun workers want 65? And why now? Its election time and everyone is seeking his own pound of flesh! It reeks of calling a dog a bad name to hang it! We must not be seen to promote these jaundiced perspectives if we want progress in our nation. If people keep falsifying their age because they never want to retire, how will there be room for the younger generation? We blame the politician for embezzling money. But our response to it is, give us our share! Its not about changing the situation. When are people going to ever go on strike for infrastructural development and sustainability in our systems without the money factor attached? The NMA is not a trade union. Yet doctors, contrary to an extant law that prohibits strikes by organizations that are not trade unions, go on strike at will without caring how many lives are lost all because of allowances and status issues. How, by the way can anyone preempt government on the issue of sack? It was the same song that was echoed in Ekiti just before the elections in spite of repeated rebuttals by the government. If I were Fayemi, now that I have nothing to lose, I would actually go ahead and make the wish of those naysayers come to pass and sack them as they had hinted! I hold no brief for Osun State but I do not feel comfortable when reports are broadcast without appropriate balance. I write for the Tribune but that does not mean a rubber-stamp of a publication because it comes from the newspaper. Irrespective of our political leanings, Let us be careful how we spread unsubstantiated negativity. Just my thoughts!
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 21:28:20 +0000
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