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NULGE condemns handling LG workers’ salaries to consultants in Kwara
Local Government workers under the auspices of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), in Kwara have kicked against the appointment of consultants to prepare and pay their salaries.
NULGE Secretary in the state, Comrade Afolabi Abayomi made this known in a statement issued on Wednesday in Ilorin.
He said each of the 16 local government councils has a Treasurer that head the Account department with full complement of accounting staff that have been preparing the salaries since the creation of the councils.
Abayomi therefore wondered why the state government went ahead to engage consultants to pay salaries of the workers in the local government, rendering LG workers employed for the purpose redundant.
He lamented that these consultants draws 30 percent out of the already low and inadequate allocations to the Local Governments thereby worsening the hardships in the councils.
“Appointing consultants to prepare and pay local government workers is illegal and unconstitutional, local governments have enough staff to prepare workers’ salaries.
“It is a way of siphoning money from the already dwindling local governments’ allocation, imaging the consultants receiving 30 percent from the councils’ allocation,” Abayomi said.
The NULGE Scribe therefore appealed to the state government to revert the appointment of consultants and let the workers in account department continue to prepare salaries for LG staff.
Abayomi said the N1 billion the state government gave LGs out of the N5 billion it received from the Federal government was not enough to pay November salaries of workers in the local governments.
According to him, the money was to augment the November salaries with N600 million, adding that the remaining N400 million would be added to December salaries.
“Monthly wage bill in the Local Government is N2.2 billion which covers State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Local Government staff, pensioners and Junior Secondary (JSS) teachers’ salaries.
“To be given only N1 billion to meet all these responsibilities with all the wide publicity given it was insincere,” he added.
According to Abayomi, the entire N5b was given by the Federal Government with specific instruction to pay backlog of local government workers’ salaries.
He called on the State Government to abide by the instruction of the Federal Government and the State House of Assembly to use the N5 billion to offset backlog of salaries to workers.
Abayomi also insisted that State Government should leave local governments alone to run its fiscal activities.
According to him, the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee (JAAC), should be scrapped to allow local government councils handle their finances the third tier of government.
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