Niger Blames Shortfall in LG Staff Salaries on Receipt from Federation Account

By Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Niger State government has blamed the shortfall in local government staff salaries on the receipt from the federation account, as it spends between N500 million and N600 million to augment the council staff salaries monthly.

The government also corroborated the recent statements by the Niger State President of the National Union of Local government Employees (NULGE), Alhaji Abdulkareem Lafene, that some local governments in the state cannot pay staff salaries.

Lafene had also said that 12 out of the 25 local governments in the state cannot pay salaries of their workers unless they get facilities from commercial banks.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government, Alhaji Akilu Kuta, who disclosed this in Minna on Wednesday, said some of the local governments the state augments their salaries are Kontagora, Shiroro, Chanchaga, Bida, Lapai, Agaie “and others”.

Kuta however expressed optimism that the local governments would surmount the problem when the new tax law put in place by government comes into full operation.

The permanent secretary, addressing newsmen after a stakeholders meeting, disclosed that the state contributed close to N600 million to the state local government joint account between January and June this year representing 10 per cent deductions from its internally generated revenue (IGR).

“We share this money with all the local governments as provided by the law,” he said.

Kuta said the stakeholders agreed that the funding of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai should be by the 25 local governments and the state government in line with the law establishing the institution which makes it the property of the two tiers of government.

He disclosed that the ministry had commenced the sensitisation of the electorate ahead of the forthcoming local government elections, saying that the ministry and the political parties had reached an understanding that the campaigns would be crisis free.

Kuta added that some of the aspirants had agreed to step down for each other in order to have a consensus candidate, a development that would further make the political terrain hitch and crisis free.

However, he was evasive when asked if the consensus arrangement would affect all the registered political parties in the state.

Present at the stakeholders meeting were officials of the state Ministry of Finance, staff of the Board of Internal Revenue, as well as the leadership of the state chapter of the NULGE.