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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