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The Oyo State Government on Thursday denied receiving N84 billion in federal allocation in the last one year, saying it received only N37.044 billion.
The Commissioner for Finance, Bimbo Adekanmbi, stated this while briefing journalists at the Governor’s Office.
According to him, the 33 local governments received a total of N40.484 billion within the period. The two figures, he said were received after statutory deductions.
Opposition parties had accused the Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration of receiving N84 billion from May, 2015 to May, 2016, condemning its inability to pay salaries regularly.
Accompanied by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Communication and Strategy, Yomi Layinka, the commissioner explained that the state government does not have power to collect or tamper with the monthly federal allocations for the local governments, adding the Federal Government pays directly into their separate account.
Adekanmbi also disclosed that the state was owing N29 billion in workers. He said the state was unable to meet up with its wage bills because of huge shortfall in federal allocation.
His words: “We have six months backlog of salaries to pay. We are unable to pay because our monthly wage bill is N5.2 billion and the federal allocation has not been more than N3 billion. We have never collected anything above N3 billion since November last year”
On the N14.1 billion sustainability loan being planned to be borrowed from the Federal Government to pay workers salary, Adekanmbi explained that the state would receive the loan on installment, stressing that it would not be enough to clear all the outstanding salaries.
“The N14.1 billion loan facility which is spread across 12 months will see the state get N1.39 billion monthly for the first three months and N1.11 billion for the following nine months. The government will still carry the burdens of salaries owed but will look for ways to increase the capacity to improve the internally generated revenue.” The commissioner said.
He called for understanding frm workers and other stakeholders, saying the state would overcome the current financial challenges.
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