Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed

Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state says his administration’s strategies in reducing the cost of governance and renewed revenue generation mechanism will ensure prompt payment of salaries and pensions.

Ahmed, represented by the state’s Head of Service, Hajia Zara Umar, said this on Sunday at this year’s Workers’ Day celebration held at the Metropolitan Square, Ilorin.

The governor noted that the state’s Internal Revenue Service, KWIRS, has been empowered to shore up the state’s internally generated revenue.

He added that this would enable the state government to meet up with its statutory commitments and promote infrastructural development. Kwara is one of the 27 states having challenges in paying the workers monthly.

Ahmed thanked workers and pensioners for participating in a verification exercise, saying the exercise would give an accurate number of workers and pensioners on its payroll.

The governor also said that data collected from the exercise would be used for planning purposes which would facilitate growth and development.

He commended the Federal Government for suspending monthly deductions at source for states who received bailout funds.

‘’ This will ease the financial challenges facing many of those states as we seek alternative measures to improve our economy,’’ he said.

He, however, urged labour unions to situate their request for upward review of minimum wage to N56, 000 within the context of the economic challenges confronting all tiers of government.

“ As it is, most states can hardly pay salaries based on the current minimum wage not to talk of increasing it,’’ he said.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, Yekini Agunbiade, listed a number of outstanding demands of labour from the state government.

He called on the state government to boost revenue accruing to local government councils so that they could meet their financial obligations to workers and pensioners.