The sum of N1.4 billion has been disbursed to the 13 local government areas in Nasarawa State for the payment of workers’ salaries for the month of November.
Alhaji Ahmed Tijjani-Aliyu, the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, disclosed this to newsmen on Tuesday in Lafia.
He said that sum came from Statutory Revenue Allocation (SRA) as well as Value Added Tax (VAT) from the federation account.
Tijjani-Aliyu explained that given the paucity of funds, the SRA which was meant for recurrent expenditure had to be augmented with the over N133 million from VAT.
He said that this was to enhance the percentage of salaries to be paid to workers in some local government areas.
Tijjani-Aliyu gave the breakdown of the salary percentages to be augmented in all the local government areas to include – Akwanga, Doma, Karu, Keffi, Lafia, Nasarawa, Nassarawa-Eggon, Toto and Obi at 55 per cent each.
Others are – Awe, 67 per cent; Keana, 60 per cent; Kokona, 56 per cent and Wamba, 61 per cent.
Tijjani-Aliyu said that the decision to augment salaries from the VAT was reached at the joint account meeting of stakeholders and that the augmentation had been on since August 2016.
According to him, without the argumentation, some local government workers in the state would be receiving as low as 37 per cent of their salaries.
“Given the harsh economic reality and the plight of the workers, it is morally right for all stakeholders to reach an agreement in order to carry everyone along, hence the augmentation,” he said.
He appealed to local government workers to be patient with the government, assuring that salary payment would improve as the economic situation improved. (NAN)