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Concerns as 20 states still owe pensions, salaries

By Gloria Ehiaghe
13 June 2017   |   4:10 am
In order to tackle this and offset backlog of salaries and other liabilities , state governors have canvassed on the need for federal government to provide another tranche of Paris Club to clear pile up bills.

In order to tackle this and offset backlog of salaries and other liabilities , state governors have canvassed on the need for federal government to provide another tranche of Paris Club to clear pile up bills.

• Abia, Imo, Benue, Ekiti, others worse off

There are concerns over the backlog of remunerations being owed by state governors, as latest BudgIT report has shown that 20 states currently owe pensioners and civil servants for up to two years.

Survey conducted by BudgIT explained that while 20 states are battling to offset pensioners’ gratuities in the last 12 months, other states like including Abia, Benue, Oyo, Ekiti, Kogi and Ondo are yet to pay 2017 salaries in addition to outstanding pensions.

In a statement made available to The Guardian, majority of the workers owed this backlog include teachers from primary and secondary schools, local government workers, pensioners, among others.

The report also showed while eight states including Imo, Taraba, Niger retirees received pension last since three years some states have not paid in the last 12 months.

The workers including pensioners have expressed dissatisfaction over government’s inability to offset the backlog, as many of them expressed concerns on how difficult it has been for them to survive the harsh economic situation without salaries.

However, apart from the large number of states unable to pay salaries, the report further explained that two states; Lagos and Rivers have been identified to have been consistently impressive with their up-to-date full payment of workers’ remuneration.

Reasons behind the delays and the inability for these states to run their affairs effectively, BudgIT said, was linked to the recent economic downturn which affected the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursement to states and the drastic reduction in the states internally generated revenue (IGR).

In order to tackle this and offset backlog of salaries and other liabilities , state governors have canvassed on the need for federal government to provide another tranche of Paris Club to clear pile up bills.

BudgIT said: “We hereby ask the Federal Government should tighten its accountability structures for the series of extra-statutory funds that are provided to state government, which currently has reached N1.75tn. We also demand that state government need to be more transparent on the use of the funds.”

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