Kogi Govt Insists Workers Are Owed Two Months Salaries.

He made this known while appearing on Channels Television’s Hard Copy in Abuja. Mr. Bello said, “For the issue of workers, when we came on board, we inherited about four months salaries arrears and I have always referred the good citizens of Kogi state and Nigerians to our website. “Every month, we pay. What happened was that we inherited very large civil servants that are virtually inefficient. And that is one of our five automatic areas of our administration by civil service and pension reforms. “We all agreed to go on a verification exercise so as to know the genuine Kogi state workforce. We went into that, it was very rigorous. But along the line, as staffs are being cleared, we pay. Those that are being cleared later will be paid along with the arrears. The state’s Chief Executive further explained that the state government collectively decided to embark on a serious sacrifice to save the state the situation two years back. “All my appointees never had any official vehicle until about a year in office, that is enough sacrifice. “And the vehicles they are riding now are more or less higher purchase which they pay from their earnings. It is not being financed by government, or at the end of the day, maintained by government. “They maintain the vehicles, and by the end of our time, finished paying. So that is sacrifice and savings for the state,” he added. The governor further said that the state has under his watch, recorded a tremendous improvement in its revenue generated internally. He explained, “Kogi state was only doing N250m monthly. In less than two years, we were able to take it to N1bn, and at times we slightly climb above that. How were we able to do that? “We blocked all the loop holes and employed technology and the entire revenue base, we are tapping into them that is how we were able to make some improvements. “I can assure you that before we clock two years, from our internally generated revenue, we should be able to take care of our salaries and some of our running costs.”]]>