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Monday 20 July 2015

Unpaid Salaries: Winners’ Chapel Distributes Free Food To Osun Workers As Residents Storm Oyedepo’s Church For foodstuffs

Hundreds of public servants, retirees and other categories of residents of Osun State trooped to the Winners Chapel, Osogbo, on Sunday to partake of the foodstuffs sent to the state by the Presiding Bishop of the church, Bishop David Oyedepo.

The State Pastor of the Living Faith Church, also known as the Winners’ Chapel, Osogbo, Olumuyiwa Emmanuel, on Sunday made a passionate appeal to members of the church to start bringing foodstuffs and money to assist members (workers) who are civil servants that have not been paid their salaries in the last seven months.

The cleric made the appeal to the congregation in his sermon during the first service held at the church in Osogbo.
Emmanuel said that the church had observed that the salary issue was affecting some members of the church who were civil servants and had decided to make the call to offer them succour.
He said, “There are people among us who are civil servants and who have not been paid for about seven months. These people need our help especially at this time.
“Whatever you have, begin to bring them to the church from tomorrow. Bring foodstuffs and money. We must be our brothers’ keepers. Don’t bring clothes; this is not the time for that.
“There are people who slept on an empty stomach last night and we must not pretend that we don’t know. Bring foodstuff and money; they will be distributed to those of them who need it next Sunday.
“We are going to reach out to them effectively and maximally because nobody must suffer in our midst.”
The pastor said that there were some families where the husbands and the wives were civil servants, saying the effect of the unpaid salaries was being felt more in such homes.
It will be recalled that the labour unions in the state had on May 25 embarked on an indefinite strike to press home their demand for the backlog of salaries. The workers vowed not to return to work until their salaries were paid.
Emmanuel said the foodstuffs were sent to assist workers and others cope with the hardship caused by the non-payment of salaries.
The pastor said, “The church has been blessed to be a blessing to others. Irrespective of their religious affiliations, we are blessed to affect the lives of others positively.
“That is the reason the church has been giving to the less privileged ones. We have been distributing food items to members and non-members. The church also distributed foodstuffs last month.
“God does not bless people so that they can be containers, he blesses people so that they can bless others and all of us must be doing that.
“Rather than acquisition of wealth, we should cultivate the habit of giving to those around us, and in return, we would receive more blessings from God.”
Emmanuel announced after the second service that anyone interested in being a partaker of the largesse should wait.
The pastor also announced that there would be free medical treatments for all kinds of ailments next Sunday even as he urged members to invite anyone that needs medical attention to come and benefit from the free services.
Few minutes after the announcement, there was a long queue of intending beneficiaries waiting patiently for the distribution of the foodstuffs.
Those on the queues were given rice, packets of tomato paste and vegetable oil. Some parents and their children queued separately in order to increase their rations.
Some of the beneficiaries expressed gratitude to the church for the largesse, saying the nation would be a better place if religious organisations, corporate organisations and individuals started considering the less privileged ones.
It will be recalled that the church had on June 14, 2015 doled out foodstuffs and financial aid to workers and others in need.
The Chairman, Osun State chapter, Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Elisha Ogundiya, had advised churches in the state to begin to donate foodstuffs to workers to assist them to cope with the hardship caused by the non-payment of their salaries.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Osun State, Mr. Jacob Adekomi, also said in June that labour unions in the state would soon approach wealthy Nigerians to ask them to donate food to their members.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola had, on Tuesday at the inauguration of the sixth House of Assembly, explained that the delay in the payment of salaries was caused by the dwindling resources coming to the state from the Federal Government.
Aregbesola said, “Problem began in 2012 when our expenditure increased as a result of the hike in minimum wage. This was when we applied the increase to junior workers only. Then, our total emoluments rose to N2.7bn from the N1.4bn that I met in November 2010.
“By December of that year, it hit N3.5bn. At the same period, our statutory allocation increased marginally from N2.1bn to N2.5bn. By July of 2013, our total emoluments hit N4bn while our statutory allocation was N2.1bn. By then, we had extended the increase to other workers.”

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