Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state, has approved the release of N1.9 billion for the payment of one month salary arrears to Local Government workers, pensioners and primary school teachers in the state.
The Kwara state Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Ademola Banu, made this disclosure in a statement issued to newsmen in Ilorin on Wednesday.
“Governor Ahmed approved the release of the funds as support for local governments and SUBEB, following an additional revenue inflow into the state.
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“The governor supports the local government workers and basic education teachers with the funds instead of deploying it for infrastructure.
“The decision to prioritise workers’ welfare is based on his earlier pledge and concern for their plight on account of salary arrears, which he said, was caused by the drop in federal allocation,’’ he said.
According to the statement, more than one billion naira (N1.1b) is for workers of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) while N599m is for local government workers.
The breakdown also showed that N150 million was for local government pensioners and N50 million for former political office holders at the council level.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the governor and the representatives of labour unions, on Monday, signed a MoU on the payment of workers’ salary arrears.
The MoU also covered the adoption of the N30, 000 minimum wage and the utilisation of extraordinary revenue inflows into the state. (NAN)