Kogi state govt didn’t cut workers’ salaries

An accurate account of the salary situation in Kogi state today is that since the advent of the Governor Idris Wada administration, salary payments to civil servants has been prioritized.   Civil servants in the state have always been paid before the end of every month in spite of dwindling allocations to the state. On the […]

An accurate account of the salary situation in Kogi state today is that since the advent of the Governor Idris Wada administration, salary payments to civil servants has been prioritized.   Civil servants in the state have always been paid before the end of every month in spite of dwindling allocations to the state. On the average, the state has devoted between 80 and 90 percent of its allocation to salary payments.  In addition, Kogi state has dedicated about a third of its internally generated revenue (IGR) which has increased by over 250 percent since 2012) to paying leave bonus of its 26, 000 civil servants.
As an administration that takes welfare of its staff seriously, a stakeholders’ meeting comprising labour unions, political office holders and other government officials was convened in April to discuss the dire situation the state was faced with that month as a result of the shortfall in allocation that month which was occasioned by the 50 percent fall in crude oil price. One of the proposals at that meeting was that senior civil servants and political appointees should sacrifice a portion of their salaries so that junior civil servants could get paid fully for that month.  Eventually, the option that was agreed upon by the stakeholders enabled the state meet its salary obligations to civil servants for that month. At no time was a decision reached to slash salaries by 40 percent. 
Abubakar Yusufý wrote from Lokoja