-
The Federal Government of Nigeria still owes workers N290bn promotion arrears
- Twelve states are yet to pay the salaries of
workers, despite having collected bailout funds
- Kogi state has the highest debts, with 14
months unpaid salaries
Emerging
reports from an ongoing investigation suggest that 12 states are still owing
their workers a backlog of salaries and allowances, despite double bailout
funds from the Federal Government.
NAIJ.com gathered that Kogi state is still
owing as salaries up to about 15 months. This revelation came as Organised
Labour accused the Federal Government of owing civil servants a whopping N290
billion promotion arrears, lamenting that all efforts at making the government
pay had not yielded any positive result.
Giving
an overview of the salary situations across the states, Secretary-General of
Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, Bashir Alade Lawal,
told Vanguard that some States were still defaulting in payment, in spite of
the huge bailout received from the Federal Government. Below is an analysis of
the debts owed by the different state
Bashir
Alade Lawal said: “Osun State is owing one year, Ekiti is owing six months, Oyo
is owing six months, Ondo is owing seven months; Beyelsa is owing seven months;
Abia, two months; Benue four months; Kogi 15 months; Nasarawa three months.
2.
Ogun state (6months) "Ogun can claim it is not owing but it is not paying
deductions from workers’ salaries in some cases, six, seven, eight months.
They
are only paying net, not gross. So, if you have paid net and you have not paid
all deductions, you have not paid full salaries."
3.
Kwara State (11 months) In Kwara State, Vanguard gathered that the government
has not paid staff in the parastatals in the state up to March 2017 and that
the last time workers were paid was February 2017.
It was also learned that the local government
workers are worse off as they are being owed as many as 11 months, with the
exemption of Barutin Local Government which had paid up to date because of its
low personnel staff and the remote location.
Reacting
to the development, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of
kwara State on Media and Communications, Dr Muideen Akorede, told newsmen that
the state government had paid workers in state parastatals, their salaries He
said: “We are up to date, so we are not owing any of our staff.
If anyone has not been paid, such staff will
be paid before the close of this week. Though I don’t have all the details, you
may please contact Commissioner for Finance, Demola Banu, for more
information.”
However, investigations reveal that staff of
state-owned Kwara TV; Herald Newspapers, Radio Kwara, were paid their March
salaries last week.
4.
Ondo state (7months) In Ondo State, the state government was owing six month
salaries- August to December 2016 and January 2017, though the new governor,
Rotimi Akeredolu paid salaries of August 2016 as well as February and March
2017.
In is reaction, Chief Press Secretary to the
governor, Segun Ajiboye, said the immediate past government owed workers six
months (August 2016 to January 2017) salaries but noted that the present
administration under Rotimi Akeredolu, had paid February and March 2017 to
workers on assumption of office.
He
added that during the Easter period, Governor Akeredolu also paid the arrears
of August 2016 to workers to celebrate the festivity.
5.
Oyo state In Oyo State, investigations reveal that none of the workers, both at
the core civil service and local government, had been paid their salaries up to
March 2017, while some of the workers are yet to be paid since December, last
year.
6.
Kogi state (14 months) In Kogi state, workers have not been paid for many
months, as the staff screening embarked upon by the state government since
March, last year, has continued to hinder many of the workers from receiving
their salaries.
It
was learned that aside from those who were on the cleared list from the
screening report released in December 2016, and had received their salary up
till February, over 40 per cent of both local government and state workers have
not received their salaries since September, last year.
Reacting,
yesterday, the Chief Press Secretary to the Kogi State Governor, Petra
Anyegbule said the state government does not owe workers except those whose
genuine status as state workers are still in doubt and under verification as
workers by the screening appeal committee.
She said when their status is verified, all
genuine workers will be paid, urging them to exercise patience till when the
screening appeal committee will have concluded their assignment. She said the
civil service reform embarked on by the governor must be total, adding that 96
per cent of those who had been cleared have received their salaries to date.
7. Imo state (2 months, as well as several
months of unpaid allowances) Imo state workers have for long, been receiving
varying percentages of emoluments, against the approved wages.
Civil
servants contacted, confirmed that salaries for the month of March and April
2017, were outstanding.
They
also affirmed that government only paid 80 per cent of legitimate salary to the
senior staff and 100 per cent to the junior ranks.
8.
Benue state (4 months) Benue state government blamed its inability to regularly
pay the wages of workers in the state on the sharp drop in the allocation from
the Federation Account.
Speaking to newsmen in a telephone interview
in Makurdi, the Chief Press Secretary, CPS, to the Governor, Mr Terver Akaase,
said despite the decline from the Federation Allocation, the Samuel Ortom-led
administration had been able to reduce the backlog from about six months which
the government inherited from the last administration to three months.
Akaase
said: “The fact of the matter is that before the advent of the present
administration, Benue was getting an average of N6 billion monthly from the
Federation Allocation.
“Unfortunately, since the coming to power of
the present administration, the government has been receiving an average of N2
billion monthly while our monthly wage bill is over N4.1 billion.
“What it meant is that what we receive monthly
cannot in any way match our monthly wage bill, let alone having anything to
embark on developmental projects, so we are left with the option of alternating
salary payments by using two or three allocations to offset a month’s salary.
“The situation today is that we are owing
three months unpaid salaries and we are hoping that the Paris Club debt refund
will help us clear at least two months of the backlog and from there, we will
be making progress.”
9.
Bayelsa (7 months).
10.
Ekiti state (6 months)
11.
Nasarawa state (2 months
12.
Abia (2 months)
Meanwhile,
ASCSN has said the Federal Government was owing civil servants N290 billion
promotion arrears, lamenting all efforts to make government pay have not
yielded any positive result.
According
to ASCSN’s scribe, the federal government is busy bailing out states and local
governments without its own workers.
He
said: “You promote somebody from grade level 9 to 10, from 10 to 12, 12 to 13
and in some cases, from 13, to 14 and he or she is still earning the salary of
level 9.
All
these arrears of promotions have accumulated to almost N290 billion. "We
have engaged this government from day one and up till now, it has not paid.
This
is very callous and wicked. The sad thing about it is that some are entitled to
N50,000, N500,000 and things like that, depending on the grade level. Some have
retired now. “We are not even asking the government to pay everything at once.
You
can say, alright, let us start paying N70 billion and before you know what is
happening, you have cleared this bill. It is like the government is not
interested until you take to the streets.
When
you go to the streets that is when you now see the highest office in the land
calling the Finance Minister to pay. ‘’You know you are owing and you are
bailing out others, bailing out the state and local governments, you are not
bailing out yourself.
“We
have made noise, but government is not listening. So, we are preparing and very
shortly, we will do something to at least, compel the government to look at our
side. This indebtedness to workers at the federal level dates back to 2007 and
we are talking about 2017.
‘’That
is over 10 years. It is a precarious situation, but we are hopeful that some of
the actions we intend to take will compel government to address the issue.”
Efforts to reach the Ministry of Finance for comments, last night, proved
abortive as no one was ready to speak for the ministry.
As
at today, Anambra is not owing, likewise Borno, Delta, Edo, Ebonyi, Cross
River, Rivers, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger,
Plateau, Taraba, Zamfara and Sokoto states.
Bailout has been given about three times and
the last one with clear directive from the Federal Government for the states to
focus on salaries and pensions, but according to Vanguard, some governors are
delaying the process of disbursement.
In
an earlier report, the Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa had warned
the federal government against dictating how states should spend their own
share of the Paris-London Club loan refund. According to the governor, a member
of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), the federal government’s position on
how states should spend their share of the fund remains unconstitutional. There
have been controversies surrounding how governors have spent shares accruing to
their states. Some are even alleged to have misappropriated parts of the funds
which the federal government asked them to spend on payment of salaries and pensions
for the already
suffering workers.
Story courtesy: NAIJ.com
Story courtesy: NAIJ.com
Comments
Post a Comment