Date: 2016-02-04

Since 2014, many state governments and local councils have been struggling to meet up with payment of workers' salary as a result of the declining allocation from the federation account. The monthly allocations to state and local governments have continued to dwindle due to sustained fall in oil prices at the international market. Recently, the price of crude oil dropped to 36 dollars per barrel, which portends a great danger for Nigeria's economy in view of our over-reliance on oil revenues.

There is no doubt against the fact that the decline in federal allocation has seriously affected the capacity of many state governments and local councils to meet some of their obligations, including salary payment to staff. In fact, many vital infrastructural projects that are of direct benefits to people in these states have had to be put on hold due to the poor state of the economy.

The inability to pay workers' wages has subsequently culminated in the decision of some state governments to retrench workers in their employ. On January 15, 2016, the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha sacked about 3,000 workers across 19 parastatals, agencies and departments in the State, with the concession of some of the parastatals. This action of the State government sparked off criticisms and protests from labour unions. The State government in a meeting with labour union leaders said that the action was taken in the best interest of the people, explaining that the current economic situation has made it difficult for the government to meet up with payment of salaries. It added that the affected workers were using the "entire resources" of Imo.

"The State government can no longer continue with the payment of salary and wages of workers in parastatals and agencies that do not contribute any meaningful development to the socio-economic welfare of the state," said the State Commissioner for Information, Chidi Ibeh.

Organised Labour in the state, have, however, issued a 14-day ultimatum to the government to recall the sacked workers and pay their benefits, among others or the state would be shut down.

The situation is almost similar in Osun State, where the Governor, Rauf Aregbesola not long ago, sacked no fewer than 141 members of the Academic and Non-Academic Staff Union of the two Colleges of Education in the state. Some doctors working in the state public hospitals were also laid off by the government. The State government has also been accused of having plans to sack about 9, 582 workers across local governments, tertiary institutions, civil and public service establishment of the state. A civil society group, under the aegis of Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEO), has however called on the State government to rescind its decision by withdrawing the sack letters issued to the affected workers and tender an unreserved public apology to them.

In Delta State, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has said that his government may not employ more civil servants in the nearest future, stressing that the State government is facing difficulty paying workers' salary due to dwindling federal allocation to states. He, however, noted that the way out of unemployment is for youths in the State to engage in vocational trainings and skills acquisition as being currently championed by the State government.

In spite of all these challenges created by scarce resources, the present administration in Kwara State has been staving off a salary crisis, and has never contemplated on sacking workers in the employ of the State government as it is the case now in some states. The State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed emphatically reiterated this during his recent interactive radio programme tagged, "Governor Explains" that his administration would never consider retrenching workers as an option in the face of current bleak economic situation rocking both the central, state and local governments in the country.

Despite being faced with scarce resources, the Kwara State government has been consistent with the payment of wages to workers in the State civil service. It is encouraging that staff in the civil service establishments of the state are not owed by the government.

But while the state government has been consistent with payment of salaries to state workers, the same cannot be said of Local council authorities, who have been struggling to pay their workers, including primary school teachers that have been on strike for a while now. It is very unfortunate that this kind of situation exists at the local government level, but one cannot entirely fault the LG chairmen for this undesirable situation. It is apparent and understandable that revenues accruing to the third tier of government from the federation account have also reduced drastically.

Local governments as created by the constitution are autonomous and that is why state governments must not interfere with their activities including their finances. This is why it is appalling to see some groups including opposition in the state coming out to blame the state government for what is happening at the local governments. They also accused the state government of discriminating against local government workers, which is far from the truth. Governor Ahmed has said he cares for every worker in Kwara and that he is worried about the plight of the LG workers that have not been paid all their entitlements. This explains why the state government is seeking to access a N1.5billion loan to assist the LG administrations to augment payment of workers' salary for the month of October, 2015.

In July 2015, Presdient Muhammadu Buhari offered bailout package to insolvent states that owed workers salaries. About 25 states benefited from this relief. This assisted the states to offset part of the backlog of salaries owed workers in their respective states. Such financial relief is, however, yet to be provided to local governments, which is why many LGs across the country are finding it hard to pay their staff. The current situation is not peculiar to Kwara alone.

Last Friday, January 29, at the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee (JAAC) meeting of the Kwara State government, the State JAAC chairman and Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Demola Banu declared that the 16 LGs had exhausted their reserved funds and were experiencing financial challenges, as they could not meet their financial commitments due to persistent shortfall in allocation from federation account.

Explaining the state's current revenues and expenditures, particularly as it affects salary payment, the Commissioner stated that the LGs in the state used to get about N3 billion as monthly allocation from the FG, but now, the allocation has consistently dropped to around N1.95 billion. He explained that the statutory allocation to the 16 LGs for the month of January stood at N1, 158, 853, 610.32; 10 per cent IGR from state government, N46, 057, 332.31; VAT of N330, 814, 470.38 and exchange gain difference of N15, 822, 773.52.

He also disclosed that allocation accrued to the state from the federal allocation had declined from N3.4 billion to around N1.4 billion, creating a shortfall of N2 billion. The JAAC chairman gave the total allocation the state government received for the month of January to N1.870 billion, adding that this is lower than the N2.4 billion the state government expends on wages and salaries of state workers monthly.

Banu, however, assured that the government would continue to make concerted efforts to ensure prompt payment of workers' salaries, despite dwindling resources.

The critics of the state government including the opposition party are not oblivious of these facts and figures. They clearly understand the current economic situation of the country; they are just being preposterous with their malicious statements and uncouth criticism of the present administration in the State. While everyone agrees that there is a need for responsible opposition to keep the ruling government on its toes, but no one should use that opportunity to misinform the public with the aim to create disaffection between the people and the government.

We will all agree that our governments both at the central, state and local levels are facing difficult times; we should all endeavour to support them. This is definitely not the time for blame game, rather we should all be assisting the state government and ultimately ourselves to develop our dear State. We have to embrace the current economic realities and support our government in its renewed drive to expand its revenue base for it to continue meeting its obligations. This is the time to support our government. This is the time to play your part.