By Biodun Esan (Ilorin)
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State has promised that his administration would continue to pay full salary to workers in the state despite the decline in revenue of the state.
A statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, on Tuesday in Ilorin quoted the governor as saying during a meeting with the heads of Kwara State Colleges of Education and the College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies.
He said his government would continue to make payment of full salaries the first-line charge because of its wider implications for staff welfare and the local economy.
The Governor said that states were getting abysmally low revenue receipts to the extent that allocations from Abuja to Kwara were hardly enough to pay full salaries and run basic government expenses until the allocation is augmented with IGR which ought to be for infrastructural development and savings for the future.
“Our policy is to make sure that we pay 100 per cent salary and this is exactly what we have been doing since day one.
“All of our allocations and part of IGR now go into paying salary and running basic government expenses.
“We hardly have leftovers. So, we are struggling because the money is just not there.
“On top of that, we have to give money to the local governments to pay 100 per cent salary. After this is done, nothing is left.
“We are aware of your requests and we truly want to do them. However, we are currently constrained by resources.
“Allocation has gone down. We have to augment payment of salary and cost of governance from what is spendable of our IGR.
“Our ongoing capital projects are funded with bonds. And it is simply impossible to use bond money to do any other thing because the terms of accessing the bond prevent such things.
“The bond we took is such that you cannot take a kobo out of it to do anything not listed in the terms.
“I urge everyone to bear with us. For now, we are only able to pay salaries 100 per cent and this is in fact a struggle. However, paying salary as and when due is a thing we take very seriously,” the Governor said.
AbdulRazaq said he expected a better understanding from the COED teachers on their agitation majorly over an agreement signed in 2011 and was not implemented by the previous administration.
He added that this administration, unlike its predecessors, has never defaulted on full salary payments, and other basic needs unlike before.
The governor said the government was not opposed to requests for improved welfare and had indeed offered something its purse can afford at this time.
According to him, it would be wrong and immoral for the government to commit to an agreement it lacked the resources to implement now, especially with the steady fall in revenue over the past six months.
“We don’t believe in percentage salary, which we met, and we don’t want to ever be tagged as an administration that was not paying full salary.
“This is the understanding that we seek. I think we deserve better treatment. We feel betrayed by their strike despite our sacrifices to ensure everyone gets full pay at this austere time,” he said.
The meeting was also attended by the Commissioner of Justice and Attorney-General, Senior Ibrahim Suleiman, and all the provosts of the schools.
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