Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi
As organised labour in the country joins its counterparts around the world to celebrate this year’s May Day, the Bauchi State government has disclosed that it inherited the sum of N14.5 billion outstanding gratuities from the previous administration.
The state Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, who stated this on Monday during the celebration of workers day at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium in Bauchi, said that the issue of outstanding gratuities was a nationwide problem and not only perculiar to Bauchi State.
The governor said that his administration was passionate about the settlement of outstanding gratuities, adding that the federal government through the debt management office was going to issue loans to states in order for them to settle all outstanding gratuities.
He debunked the allegation that his administration diverted the Paris Club Fund given by the federal government to states, saying that his government used 85 per cent of the fund to settle the outstanding salaries of workers in the state and local government.
“When I got the Paris Club Fund for the state, I called the local government chairmen and informed them about it. I then used the sharing formula I got from the federal ministry of finance and gave the local government 42% while state got 58%,” he said.
