Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi said  civil servants in the employment of the State and its local governments wll receive three months salaries before the coming Muslims festival of Id-el-Kabir celebrations.

The Governor who said this in a speech he delivered to mark Kogi 25 Independence anniversary on Saturday however said only those that have been verified as bona fide workers of the State will benefit from the salary payment.

The Governor said the State had only accessed 40 per cent of the bailout funds approved for it by the Federal Government.

He promised to defray more salaries being owed workers when the State accesses more of the bailout funds.

The governor said, “Over the space of two months, even before we got the the bailout funds, we managed to pay 3 month’s salaries. More has been paid since the bailout came.

For the records, we have only accessed 40% of the Bailout Funds approved for us by the Federal Government. We will pay more as we access more.

“We commenced a staff screening and verification exercise which has removed over 18,000 unintended beneficiaries from the the state civil service payroll.

“This will save the state N16.6bn per annum at the rate of N1.3bn per month. Affected individuals have also been afforded the opportunity to present their cases to an Appeal Committee. No genuine worker or pensioner affected for any reason will be denied fair hearing.

The screening exercise also revealed the level of complicity in the rot by all strata of the society. It was a conspiracy to rob the state.

“The involvement of clerics of both major faiths in these rackets was perhaps the most disappointing. I warn that people who by their calling are meant to be societal role models must endeavour to live above board. We will not hesitate to hand them over to law enforcement if need be.

We are now better able to focus on the welfare of genuine workers.

“I have directed the Commissioner for Finance and the 21 Local Government Administrators to pay at least 3 months’ salaries to all workers before the Sallah Holidays.

“In line with our resolve to ensure our payroll caters for only bona fide workers, it goes without saying that only those who passed the screening exercise will be paid.

“Once again, and I cannot repeat this enough, any person who believes he or she was was unjustly screened out should please reach to the Appeal Committee at the appointed times and places and present their case. Schedules have been sent out several weeks ago to all Local Government Secretariats and the State Secretariat so people can avail themselves of this opportunity.

On some of his achievements since he assumed office, Governor Bello said: “In June, 2016, I trimmed the number of ministries in the state from 20 to 15, appointing the same number of commissioners. This eliminated the duplication of roles, cut the cost of governance and increased productivity.

“In order to grow our Internally Generated Revenue, we granted autonomy to the Kogi State Board of Internal Revenue, moved them to modern premises and strengthened their operational capacities. There is currently a perceptible increase in our Internally Generated Revenue. It will surely grow.

“We abolished the State and Local Government Joint Account, granted financial autonomy to the Local Government Areas and strengthened oversight of their activities. This is a way of boosting this administration’s resolve to govern with transparency and accountability.

“We commenced construction of rural and township roads in the three senatorial Districts of the State. Some parts of the state which had been in darkness for 5 years or more have been provided electricity with several of such projects awaiting commissioning.

“This Administration resuscitated the monthly sanitation exercise and it has gone a long way in cleaning up our cities and banishing the mountains of refuse and other health hazards which dotted everywhere when we came in.”