Niger takes N3bn loan to pay salary

Niger State Government has acquired N3 billion loan facilities between January and June 2016 to augment salary of workers in the state, Daily Trust learnt.
Commissioner for Finance, Ibrahim Balarabe who disclosed this yesterday said the situation led to the slash in workers’ June salaries.
“Government realised that by the end of the year, the state would have incurred over N10 billion to augment salary alone, while developmental activities will be grounded,” he said.
He said the situation forced the state government to come up with a formula of 70/30 percent of the monthly allocation for payment of salary and execution of capital projects, which resulted in a face-off between it and the organized labour in the state.
He however said the slashed amount has been paid to workers last Monday across the state in accordance with the agreement that it will refund the difference when financial situation improved.
Balarabe noted that government decision to slash salary of workers in June was a bitter pill to swallow but maintained that the action was taken in the best interest of the state following the sharp fall in the revenue.