This is contained in a statement signed by Mrs Goma and made available to newsmen in yenagoa.
According to the statement, the Ministry of Local Government Administration has announced a gross receipt of N1.11billion from the Federal Allocations to the eight councils’ for the month of June, 2017, taking into account the statutory deductions on N70 million for pensions and staff training, and bailout repayments of N16.28 million, the net allocations amount to N1.02 billion.
It reads: With a local government worker’s salary bill of N609.17 million and primary school staff salary of N648.73 million, amounting to 1.26 billion; there would be a shortfall of about N233.2 million, therefore without some assistance/support, the June 2017 federal allocations to the councils would not be able to pay salaries of workers, as well as to administer the Local Governments.
The document states that it has been the plight of the Local Governments since 2014 wherein the allocations have been far less than the wage bills, despite various intervention efforts carried out by the present administration, including civil service reforms and other policies aimed at addressing the unduly huge wage bills and other fiscal challenges.
The Commissioner averred that but for the support of the governor who graciously release the bailout funds and the Paris Club Refunds to the Local Governments in full, they were (councils) only able to address the salary bills for two months.
She, however, appreciated the policy of non-interference in the Local Government Funds in the state and the support he has provided in form of policies, administrative guidelines and financial bailouts.
To this end, the Commissioner called on stakeholders to avail themselves of the correct position of issues so that they may be in vantage position to proffer sustainable solutions to the fiscal challenges of the local government system in the state.
and then