Former Governor of Osun State Rauf Aregbesola said on Monday that rumours of owed salaries in Osun State during his tenure was due to mischief and ignorance.

Aregbesola made this known during his turn for ministerial screening and confirmation before the Nigerian Senate.

Aregbesola said “We (Osun State Government) ensured between July 2015 and July 2018 that public servants on level one to seven and they constitute about 72 per cent in the state earned their full pay, contrary to the belief that every civil servant was paid 50 per cent.”

“By 2014, our nation was in distress, and virtually all states had difficulty with salaries.
“We came up with an approach that there is no month that any public official did not have salary every month,” he said.

Senator Elisha Abbo commenting on Aregbesola’s nomination says, “In 2012, when I contested for LG chairman in Adamawa, I visited you in Government House, Osogbo and you gave me your whole salary for that month. I confirm your nomination.”

Senator Surajudeen Bashiru says “As a commissioner in Aregebsola’s second term, my take-home pay in total was N184,000. None of the commissioners got an official car and I did not get official accommodation.”

Aregbesola is the 35th nominee to be screened by the upper chamber.