Ekiti decries exclusion in budget support fund, writes FG

THE Ekiti State government has lamented the failure of the Federal Government in paying the budget support fund, which had affected the state in paying workers’ salaries.

The Head of Service, Mr Olugbenga Faseluka, during an interactive meeting with representatives of civil servants unions in Ekiti State disclosed that out of the 35 states that subscribed for the loan, only Ekiti was left out in the January payment of the fund.

He, however, disclosed that with Ekiti wage bill put at 2.3 billion, it had been difficult to bridge the gap in payment of workers’ salary due to the low allocation been received monthly.

“We don’t know why the budget support fund was not released. Information we have is that only Ekiti State was left out of the 35 states that subscribed to the loan, excluding Lagos State . All other states have been paid,” he said.

Faseluka confirmed that the money was paid and later withdrawn.  He said a letter had been sent to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation to complain on the non-payment of the loan and that the state was still expecting response.

Mrs Owolabi, the Accountant General of Ekiti State  said before the present government came into power, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the state was put at between N250m and N280 million. She said Ekiti can now boast of an IGR of N400 million monthly.

She said the state received a total of one billion, five hundred and forty-eight million, N1,548 billion as allocation for the month of January.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Mr Niran Owoseni disclosed that the amount Ekiti State received was far below what the government used in the payment of salaries.

He said government has been using the budget support fund in addition to the monthly allocation to run the state. He, however, lamented that as of Friday, the loan has not been paid by the Federal Government. This, he said, had delayed in the payment of salaries of workers in the state for the month of September.

Reacting to the development, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Vice Chairman in Ekiti State, Mr Adeniyi Olugbenga, said there was no reason for Ekiti State to be denied of the benefit among other states of the federation. He suggested that in the interim, an alternative source of  revenue, such as cultivation of crops that could generate money should be embarked upon so as to guide against dependency on Federal Government’s fund.