It however claimed that the death was not caused by the delay in the payment of salaries.

The Chairman of Non-Academic Staff Union of College of Education, Ilorin, Mr. Najeem Anas, had on Wednesday said six members of the union had died between January and June because of financial difficulties arising from their salary arrears.

He alleged that the state government had stopped making available subvention to the college since March.

He added that the development had inflicted untold hardship on the workers.

Anas said, “From January to June this year, we have lost about six of our members due to lack of funds. Some of them are on medication, and because of lack of money to buy drugs, some died suddenly.

“We do record, at least, one death per month, though we have not recorded any this July. As a result of that, we have gone spiritual and we have counselled one another to take things easy.”

But in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed on Media and Communication, Dr. Muyideed Akorede, the state government said the reported deaths of the workers were sad.

Akorede, however, added that there was no proof that the deaths were caused by the delay in payment of their salaries.

He said, “While the reported deaths of the workers were sad, there is no proof that the deaths were caused by the delay in payment of salaries by certain tertiary institutions in the state.”

The SSA said despite the drop in Federal Allocation to the state for almost a year, the government had consistently to pay salaries of its workers due to Ahmed’s financial ingenuity.

The SSA also clarified the claim that it had received a bailout from the Federal Government to pay salary arrears.