Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has slammed claims that he is owing Benue state workers.
In a recent interview with newsmen in Makurdi, the state capital, Ortom said; “Yes, we have been consistently paying our workers since January. “I inherited when we took over in 2015, over N69bn salary arrears, pension and gratuity. Over 70 billion for other engagements of government. “We tried to cope with the issue of garnishing our account because people who went to court and secured valid judgement had to be paid.
We tried to pay judgement debts, we tried to pay for other several commitments. It’s been quite tasking, but we appreciate God for how far we have gone”.
He continued saying;“the 23 LGs welcomed us and we felt that there was the need to try to do something. The issue of payment of salary has been the biggest challenge of this government because Benue state economy is driven by the civil service.
No much of commercial activities are going on here, no industries, so there is no engagement of the private sector providing commercial activities, so it has become very challenging. “Once salaries are not paid, it becomes a big challenge. ‘This is what we’ve been battling with. Since the beginning of the year, because the economy is improving, the federal allocation has improved compared to what we used to have.
Throughout the period that we were in recession, the total allocation that was coming to the state was an average of 5 billion and then you have an IGR of about 500 million, it becomes a problem. “But we also appreciate the fact that today in Nigeria, despite the low IGR that comes into the state, Benue state is number 3 in terms of payment of high salary. “In the North, we have 19 states and Benue state is the highest. “In fact, it may interest you to know that some states in the north, their salary is 1/3 of what Benue State is paying, so it becomes a very big task.
