Oyo government appeals to workers over N29bn wage deficit

…Explains N14.1bn FG loan is staggered

As the strike action embarked on by workers in Oyo state continues, the State Government has sought understanding of workers and pensioners over the N29bn wage deficit representing five-month salary arrears, blaming it on dwindling allocation from the Federation Account and paltry internally generated revenue.

Addressing reporters on the financial status of the state, the Commissioner for Finance and Budget, Bimbo Adekanmbi and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Communication and Strategy, Yomi Layinka said the delay in the payment of salaries and pensions to workers and pensioners in the past five months was not a deliberate action as being rumoured in some quarters but due to non-availability of fund.

The forum also provided opportunity for the government representatives to explain the rationale behind the decision of the state to apply for N14.1bn from the latest financial sustainability plan of the Federal Government.

He clarified that the N14.1bn would be used to pay salaries, stressing that it would not be paid to the state in bulk, but in tranches of N1.3bn monthly for the first three months and N1.1bn monthly for the next nine months.

As against the N84bn being bandied around as the amount the state got from the Federation Account between May 2015 and May 2016, he clarified that only N37.48bn accrued to the state coffers within the period after all statutory deductions from source and irrevocable commitments.

Within the same period, however, he said that N40.48bn was paid directly to the Local Government as its share of allocation, part of which was being used to cater for the salaries of primary school teachers and local government employees Adekanmbi said, “Oyo State government is not deliberately denying workers their salaries. Such misconception was borne out of ignorance and sometimes deliberate mischief by those who can never see anything good in this administration.

“People have been peddling unfounded rumour that the state received N84bn from the Federation Account from May 2015 to May 2016, which they claimed we have refused to use for the payment of salaries. They made a rough calculation that with such figure, we ought to be having over N7bn monthly.

“The truth, however, is that we collected only N37.48billion after all deductions from source from May 2015 to May 2016. The remaining N40.48bn went directly to the LGs and it is even criminal for any state to touch such allocation.”

Between May 2015 and May 2016, he said monthly allocation to the state fluctuates between N2bn and N3bn, while he said that the internally generated revenue stands at an average N1.2bn monthly, with constant N5.2bn salaries and pensions monthly.

The commissioner said, “As at May 2016 we have recorded N29bn deficit, which is responsible for the five-month salary arrears. In fact, it was only in three months last year that we accessed any figure up to N3billion and since then, it has been a downward spiral.

“We must also make something clear to our dear citizens. Oyo State has a population of about nine million people. If we receive an average of N2bn monthly from the federation account and we generate about N1.2bn monthly, it is only fair that we spread it among the workers and the people of the state.

“The Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, graciously conceded 100 per cent of allocation from the centre to the payment of salaries and pensions while the IGR is devoted to maintenance of social services like education, health, social welfare, security and infrastructural development.”

The commissioner said that these services would suffer if all the accruals to the state were used to pay salaries of the not more than one hundred thousand workforce in the state.

Adekanmbi said that the N14.1bn loan being expected from the FG, which the State House of Assembly just approved, would not even be sufficient in offsetting the backlog of salaries.

Nonetheless, he said that the state was working hard to diversify its economy with the new initiative called Oyo Agric, as well as to expand its tax net to enhance its IGR in the next few months to ease the wage burden.