The Nasarawa State chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), says the state government is updated in its salary obligation to the civil servants.
Speaking with journalists on Monday in Lafia, the state chairman of the body, Mr Yusuf Iya, said the state government has since paid the July salary to the workers.
The clarification came amid a report that Nasarawa was among the eight states owing their civil servants up to six months of salary arrears.
The report drew its sources from a survey conducted by BudgIT, a Nigerian civic organisation that applies technology for citizen engagement with institutional improvement to facilitate societal change.
The report named the affected states to include Taraba, Nasarawa, Edo, Ebonyi, Ondo, Plateau, Imo, and Abia.
BudgIT said it conducted the survey to spotlight and identify state governments that have consistently failed to meet the essential requirement of governance and employee compensation.
However, Iya described the report as mischievous and untrue, while noting it failed the litmus test of objectivity.
He pointed out that the document published as a result of a survey carried out lacks professional inputs, noting that a qualified survey must present the source of primary and secondary data and the result of the interview conducted.
He said the civil servants and their leaders who were supposed to have been the source of the primary data, were excluded from the investigation.
He said, “We, the leadership of NLC Nasarawa State, who are the representatives of the workers in the state hereby debunk, condemn and describe the report as false, fallacy malicious, concocted and baseless.
“I wish to state here that since the inception of this administration of Gov. Abdullahi Sule, both state and local Governments workers including retirees have never been in arrears of even a month wage.
“It should be noted that when Gov Sule came on board as governor, he met the Local Government staff and retirees receiving salaries/wages in percentage and had to stop that practice immediately.”
He said the state government was also able to clear the backlog of workers’ salaries from 2016 to the tune of N720 million.
He also explained that the state government equally approved the implementation of pending promotion for over 14 years with a financial implication of N216 million being added to the state wage and paid promptly monthly.
Also responding to the report, the Chief Press Secretary governor Abdullahi Sule, Ibrahim Addra, in a statement on Monday, described it as malicious.
He said, “For the avoidance of doubt, Nasarawa State government under the stewardship of Engr. Abdullahi Sule has never and does not owe a single month of salary.
“Nasarawa has paid salaries up to July of 2022 and in full. It is therefore curious, worrisome and in bad taste that such lies are allowed to remain in the public domain.
“By this report, BudgIT misinformed Nigerians and its wider audience and has in doing so dented its image and reduced its credibility quotient.
“We challenge BudgIT to admit it has goofed and come out with a categorical statement and apology regarding the status of salary payment in Nasarawa State.
“Anything short of this honourable path will be viewed as an unwarranted attack on the government and people of Nasarawa State.
“The timing of the BudgIT report smacks of mischief and by allowing the same such wide circulation in the media space bear the markings of the job of a hatchet man.
“BudgIT, redeem your image! Correct this blunder and apologise.”
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Nasarawa not owing workers… Nasarawa not owing workers…
and then