Benue grappling with N139bn debt ―Ortom

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom on Wednesday disclosed how his administration has been grappling with N139 billion debt inherited from former Governor Gabriel Suswam’s government.

Ortom said this at an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos, just as he pleaded with workers in the state to bear with his administration, promising  to clear the backlog and ensure regular payment of their salaries.

According to the governor, a breakdown of the inherited debts shows N69 billion is owed in pension and gratuities arrears while a total N70 billion debt is in respect of contracts ready for payment.
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“We inherited N69 billion pension and gratuities arrears. We also inherited N70 billion debt as contracts ready for payment,” he said.

The governor also disclosed how his administration has been confronting the problem of the ghost workers syndrome in the state.

According to Governor Ortom, who said his administration had no issue with workers in the state as it had met and secured their understanding of the situation of things on ground, also disclosed that his administration met a wage bill of N8.5 billion which tried to reduce it to N7.5 billion.

While describing the situation as a challenge, Governor Ortom, said that his administration had been able to remove ghost workers and had streamlined the wage bill, noting, however, that the exercise was work-in-progress.

“We have no issue with our workers. We’ve met with them and they understand the situation of things.

“In fact, we met a wage bill of N8.5 billion and we tried to reduce it to N7.5 billion. The wage bill has been a huge challenge. We’ve been able to remove ghost workers and have streamlined the wage bill.

“When you have an income of N6.5 billion, we should be able to pay N4.5 billion as wages.