Nasarawa govt. to pay workers 60 per cent of October salary

Nasarawa state government has announced several austerity measures as the effect of dwindling revenue allocation from the Federation account bites hard.

The commissioner for finance, Dominic Bako, said Governor Tanko Al-Makura has suspended payment to contractors and ordered that more funds be channeled to shoring up the amount available for payment of salaries for October.

Even then, the money will not be enough to pay the workers, the commissioner said.

Mr. Bako said civil servants and political appointees would be paid only 60 per cent of their October salaries.

Dominic Bako, the state commissioner of Finance made this known at a press conference in Lafia on Friday.

He said the state government would pay the arrears of monthly shortfall in due course when the economy improves.

“Governor Tanko Al-Makura has directed that accruals and disbursement of receipt from the federation account be fully disclosed to the general public in accordance with his avowed commitment to ensuring accountability and openness in the conduct of government activities.

“The total receipts from the Federation account for the month of October was N2,396,908,361.89 and the total disbursement for the month of October stood at N2,050,730,979.49”,

“We are left with only N346, 177,372.30 representing 30% as salaries to core civil servants and political appointees.

“This is a far cry from the sum of N929, 389,372. 56 required,” he said.

Mr. Bako said the government has allocated N102.1million to pay the allowances of National Youth Service Corps members.

Overhead cost will gulp N348.7m, Judiciary N155.9m, State House of Assembly N82.7 million, State University Keffi N129 million and College of Education, Akwanga N108.2 million.

The Commissioner called on the workers and citizens at large to appreciate the efforts of the government to ameliorate the harsh economic conditions the state and the nation at large are passing through. (NAN)