Succour came yesterday to local government workers and pensioners as the 16 local government areas in Kwara state received N1.6billion monthly allocation to pay salary and pension.

Similarly, the 16 local governments workers salary stands at N2.5billion whereas, the amount released from the federation account stands at N1.2billion,while local governments are responsible for the payment of primary schools and junior secondary school teachers in the state.

The state Chairman ,Nigeria Union of Teachers(NUT),Comrade Musa Abubakar confirmed this development after an emergency meeting with local government Chairmen and Union leaders held at the conference hall, Ministry of Finance, Ilorin yesterday. The Chairman said that the on-going verification exercise was at the instance of the unions in order to flush out ghost workers in the state and local governments.

He said the amount received from the federal allocation was not enough to pay salaries while there were a lot of ghost workers in the local governments, adding that the verification exercise would be of a great advantage to the workers. He therefore urged workers to keep calm as the on-going verification exercise would give birth to prompt payment of salaries.

Also speaking, the Deputy President, NULGE, Comrade Oloruntade Ibikunle commended the state government for conducting the screening exercise, saying that the unions would not relent in their efforts to support government. "We are collaborating with the state government in order to fish out ghost workers. We discover that the consistent drop in monthly allocation has been affecting the three tiers of government most especially the local governments.

"After the exercise, government would be able to save more money to pay workers of the local governments, he said. The state Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Demola Nurudeen Banu remarked that the exercise was in response to frequent complaints on suspicion that the payroll of the state was bloated.

According to him, "by the time the screening is over, the government would be able to save more money to pay workers", adding that constant drop in the monthly allocation has affected all the states in the federation drastically. He lamented that local government worker's salary stands at N2.5billion whereas the amount released from the federation account stands at N1.2billion,adding that local governments are responsible for the payment of primary schools and junior secondary school teachers in the state.