The Coronavirus pandemic which is affecting the country’s economy, leading to a drop in oil price to less than $30 per barrel, has begun to reflect on the welfare packages of local government workers in Nasarawa State.
While most of the local governments in the state have experienced delay in the payment of March salaries, some others are not too sure of getting 100 percent of their salaries due to the economic challenges posed by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State who explained why some local government councils in the state were not able to pay the March salaries in full, called for calm and understanding, saying the situation was just for the moment, hoping that it would be over soon.
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The governor said that even though the state government was able to pay its workers and pensioners in full, some councils were only able to pay their workers in different percentages.
He explained that he earlier declined commenting on the matter in order to respect the autonomy the councils presently enjoy.
“I didn’t say anything about it because the LGCs are autonomous; a lot of people didn’t get to understand what was happening; at the state level we have paid workers 100 per cent of their salaries, and 100 per cent of their pension, irrespective of the challenges we are facing.
“But because of the autonomy, a lot of the local government councils were not able to pay 100 per cent of salaries,” he noted.
Sule also disclosed that the state government has been assisting the local governments to pay full salaries for about three to four months now.
He said that the assistance could not be sustained in March because there was no extra resources left to assist the councils, assuring, however, that the state government would look into the matter with a view to augmenting their wage bill.
