No fewer than 12 of the 36 states of the
federation are facing difficult times as
the salaries they owe their workers are
approximately well over N110bn. This
represents the salaries being owed by
government of 10 of the states of the
federation. They are Osun, Rivers, Oyo,
Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Ondo, Plateau, Benue,
and Bauchi states.
The 36 state governors, who met during
the week in Abuja under the aegis of the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum for the second
time after the May 29 inauguration of the
new government, expressed their concern
over the issue.
The situation, according to Saturday
PUNCH investigation, has been giving some
of the governors’ aides serious concern as
they are also being owed salaries and
allowances.
The governors had resolved to meet with
the President to demand the refund of the
money spent on executing Federal
Government projects in their respective
states to enable them to pay their workers.
Rivers State, for example, which has a
monthly wage bill of about N7bn, has not
paid its workers for three months, putting
the total amount of salaries the state owes
its workers at N21bn.
It was learnt that while some workers in
the state are owed 10 months’ salaries, the
core civil servants have not been paid their
salaries for the past three months. Drivers,
gardeners, cleaners and some office
assistants are some of the workers being
owed salaries for 10 months. These workers
are always paid from government overhead
or imprest.
A reliable source in the state Ministry of
Finance, who craved anonymity, told one of
our correspondents that “Every month, the
government gives out imprest from which
drivers, cleaners and some office
assistants are paid. This set of workers has
not been paid for the past 10 months, while
the core civil servants have not received
their March, April and May salaries.”
The wage bill of Oyo State rose from
N4.9bn to N5.3bn towards the end of 2014
after the promotion of workers and review
of salaries by Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
Therefore, the total sum of the three
months’ salaries the state owes its workers
is N15.9bn.
It will be recalled that after the workers
went on a two-week strike recently, the
government reached an agreement with
labour leaders that the payment of March
salaries would resume anytime in June.
There are conflicting figures on the actual
work force in the state but a reliable
source in the state civil service commission
put the figure between 35,000 and 40,000
with local government workers and
teachers in the majority.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour
Congress in the state, Waheed Olojede, told
one of our correspondents that the
Memorandum of Understanding the union
signed with the state government, which
was the basis for the suspension of the
strike was still in force.
In spite of its status as an oil producing
state, the Ondo State Government still
owes its workers two months salaries –
April and May.
Investigation revealed that the monthly
wage bill for the state’s 56,000 workers
was N5bn. So the two month’s salaries
being owed amount to N10bn.
Of the amount, it was gathered that core
civil servants collect N1.6bn, secondary
school teachers, N1.3bn, while local
government workers and primary school
teachers collect N2.1bn.
The State Commissioner for Information,
Mr. Kayode Akinmade, described the
development as unfortunate. He also said
that Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s aides and
other political office holders in the state
were being owed as well.
“All political appointees are affected,
including me. We’re being paid at the same
time with the civil servants. So, all of us
are affected. But I’m very sure that by
next week, the salaries will be paid.”
Akinmade, however, urged political office
holders who might be threatening to resign
as a result of non-payment of their
salaries to shun such an idea.
“It will be unfair for any appointee to
resign due to the development. When it was
rosy, we all enjoyed it and we should be
able to endure now,” he said.
A source at the Office of the Head of
Service, Abia State, put the state’s work
force at 22, 000. But there have been
conflicting reports on the number of
months workers in the state are being
owed salaries.
While the state government has
consistently maintained that no civil
servant in its core civil service is being
owed any entitlement, workers in various
parastatals in the state have complained
of non-payment of salaries for five
months.
Some workers in the Abia State Universal
Basic Education Board told one of our
correspondents that they were being owed
for five months, while their counterparts in
the Secondary Education Management
Board complained that they have not been
paid salaries for four months.
Similarly, staff members of the state’s
Hospital Management Board, Abia Line
Transport Network and tertiary
institutions, have also complained of non-
payment of six months’ salaries.
A source in the state Ministry of Finance
said that the state’s wage bill “fluctuates
between N2bn and N2.5bn.”
It was, however, learnt that Abia State was
getting between N3bn and N3.5bn monthly
before the drop in the federal allocation.
A Senior Special Assistant on Media to
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Mr. Ugochukwu
Emezue, appealed to the affected workers
to be patient with the government,
assuring that they would be paid their
salaries as soon as the state’s revenue
improved.
He also urged political office holders in
the state to exercise patience, adding that
Ikpeazu’s administration was new and
needed some time to settle down to deal
with the problems.
Like its counterparts, Kwara State also
owes local government workers a total of
N3.4bn as salaries for four months.
Although the state’s monthly wage bill was
said to be fluctuating between N2.7bn and
N2.8bn, one of our correspondents learnt
that the monthly salaries of local
government workers in the state are about
N849m. This amounted to N3.4bn in four
months.
Saturday PUNCH also gathered that Kogi
State Government has 17, 750 core civil
servants and owes N3.1bn in salaries.
According to the state Commissioner for
Information, Zainab Okino, the number did
not include local government workers,
primary school teachers, and staff of the
state judiciary, legislature and tertiary
institutions.
She said the monthly wage bill of the
state government is about N3.1bn.
A source in the state Ministry of Finance
said civil servants and political appointees
had received their salaries up to April 2015
and that May salaries would be paid before
June 30.
But another source said that not the full
salaries were paid. The source said that
local government workers in the state were
only paid certain percentage of their
salaries, adding that it had been the trend
for over six months.
According to him, only Okehi and Okene
local government areas pay 60 per cent,
Adavi pays 45 per cent while other local
government areas pay less.
The Ekiti State Government has yet to pay
May salaries to its workers while those still
undergoing verification exercise have not
received April and May salaries.
According to Governor Ayodele Fayose’s
Special Assistant on Public Communications
and New Media, Lere Olayinka, there are
about 48,977 workers in the state public
service.
A source in the Office of the Accountant
General of the state, who spoke under the
condition of anonymity, quoted the state’s
monthly wage bill as N1.4bn.
The new Benue State Governor, Mr. Samuel
Ortom, alleged that he inherited a debt
profile of N90bn out of which N12bn was
for five months’ salary arrears.
Ortom had therefore initiated moves to
borrow money to pay one month’s salary
across the board to the workers.
He said the development was necessitated
by the concern over the plight of the
workers and the need to persuade striking
state university lecturers to call off their
strike.
The governor, however, said he had
received offers from some banks and
would soon approach the state House of
Assembly for approval to obtain a loan.
According to him, all his efforts to
persuade the state university lecturers to
call off their strike had failed and that
they had insisted that they must be paid
at least one month’s salary.
By the end of June, the Osun State
Government will owe its workers N25.2bn
for seven months’ salaries. The wage bill
of civil servants in the state was put at
N3.6bn by Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
The state workforce was also put at
around 40,000 by the governor who said the
population of the workers was next to that
of Lagos State.
Aregbesola has yet to constitute his
cabinet since he dissolved it on the eve of
his inauguration into second term in office
in 2014. However, the governor appointed
the Chief of Staff and the Secretary to
the State Government.
The governor’s media aide, Mr. Semiu
Okanlawon, said though he, alongside
others, had not been paid since November
2014, he was not considering resigning.
It was further learnt that the
administration of former Governor Jonah
Jang owed Plateau State workers six
months’ salaries before he vacated office
on May 29, 2015.
According to the former Commissioner for
Finance in the state, Mr. Davou Mang, the
new governor, Mr. Simon Lalong, will
require about N10.2bn to clear the salary
arrears going by the state’s monthly wage
bill of N1.7bn.
The state’s civil servants recently called
off their six-week industrial action.
Jang was said to have left a debt profile
of N104bn while pension arrears owed
retired civil servants were put at over
N11bn.
The Chairman of the Plateau State chapter
of the NLC, Mr. Jibrin Bancir, told
Saturday PUNCH that the workers decided
to resume work as a gesture of goodwill to
the new administration, adding that the
government agreed to pay two months’
salaries within the next two weeks.
The new Bauchi State Governor, Alhaji
Abdullahi Abubakar, is battling to raise
N8.4bn to pay the state’s workers their
three months’ salaries.
Abubakar, who recently claimed that he
met an almost empty treasury in the state,
said he also inherited two months’ arrears
from his predecessor, Mallam Isa Yuguda.
As of the time of filing this report,
Saturday PUNCH had yet to get details of
salaries being owed workers in Imo, Jigawa
and Zamfara states. But available reports
indicated that Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River,
Ogun, Enugu and Kano states that hitherto
owed their workers had paid.
According to one of our correspondents,
the Kano State Government does not owe
any of its 143,000 workers.
The state government, which monthly wage
bill is about N8.5bn, pays the state
government N3.6bn; local government,
N1.6bn; SUBEB, N2.5bn; judiciary/ North-
West University/ Kano University of
Science and Technology, N3.30bn. Political
appointees in the state are said to be
earning about N8.5bn.

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God will save us in this country.

WTF!

WTF! 110Bn? Thats like millions of people...

EFCC should investigate these Governors for mismanagement .