Unpaid salaries hit N110bn in states

Workers on a protest march

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.

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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.