Nasarawa state governor, Abdullahi Sule, has directed local government chairmen in the state to pay June and July salaries owed their workers before Friday, August 9.
He gave the directive during a meeting with the 13 local governments’ chairmen at the Government House in Lafia on Wednesday.
“The measure will enable staff of the councils to celebrate the forthcoming Eid-el-Kabir with ease and comfort. I decried the hardship being experienced by the local government workers in my administration,” Engr Sule said.
According to him, the delay in the payment of salaries and pension to local government workers was counter-productive and debased the morale of the workers.
He noted that his administration would not fold its arms and watch men and women suffer for sacrificing their time and energy to sustain the existence of the state.
He said he was one of the first governors to implement the directive by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) on direct allocation to the local government areas.
“I deliberately refused to be part of the allocation but after the sharing formula was done, nine local government chairmen ran to me, seeking permission to use funds meant for capital projects to be able to pay salaries,” he added.
Sule, who apologised to the staff of the nine councils for non-payment of their salaries, called on the electorate to elect educated and competent people who could effectively handle the finances of their councils.
The chairman of Lafia Local Government, Aminu Muazu Maifata, said, “The nine local governments in the state which are currently verifying the authenticity of workers are: Akwanga, Nassarawa-Eggon, Kokona, Karu, Doma, Obi, Toto, Nasarawa and Lafia.
He said due to the verification exercise, N60 million was discovered to have being diverted by the syndicate.
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