By Adeleye Kunle
Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said on Tuesday that the state will continue to pay full salaries despite a steady decline in revenue.
He stated that paying full salaries is a top priority for his administration because of the wider implications for employee welfare and the local economy.
According to the Governor, states are receiving abysmally low revenue receipts to the point where allocations from Abuja to Kwara are barely enough to pay full salaries and run basic government expenses until the allocation is supplemented with IGR, which should be used for infrastructure development and future savings.
“Our policy is to pay 100 percent of the salary, and we have done so since the beginning.” All of our allocations, as well as a portion of IGR, are now used to pay salaries and cover basic government expenses.
“We don’t have many leftovers.” So we’re struggling because the money simply isn’t there. On top of that, we must provide funds to local governments in order to pay full salaries. Nothing will be left after this,” he said during a meeting with the heads of Kwara State Colleges of Education, including the College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies.
“We are aware of your requests, and we sincerely hope to fulfill them.” However, we are currently constrained by financial constraints. Allocation has decreased. We are having to supplement salary and governance costs from what is spendable from our IGR.
“Bonds are used to fund our ongoing capital projects.” And it is simply impossible to use bond money for anything else because the terms of accessing the bond forbid it.
“The bond we took is written in such a way that you cannot take a kobo out of it to do anything that is not specified in the terms.” Please be patient with us. For the time being, we can only pay salaries in full, which is a struggle. However, paying salaries on time is something we take very seriously.”
The Governor stated that he expected better understanding from the COED teachers regarding their agitation, which is primarily about an agreement signed in 2011 but not implemented by the previous administration, and that this administration, unlike its predecessors, has never defaulted on full salary payment and other basic needs.
He stated that the government is not opposed to requests for improved welfare and has offered something that its budget can afford at this time, but that it would be wrong and immoral to commit to an agreement that it lacks the resources to implement now, especially given the steady drop in revenue over the last six months.
“We don’t believe in the gerigedi salary, which we met, and we never want to be known as an administration that didn’t pay full salary.” This is the comprehension we seek. I believe we deserve better treatment. Despite our sacrifices to ensure everyone receives full pay during this difficult time, we feel betrayed by their strike.”
