Chairman of Mopamuro local government area of Kogi state, Mr. Folorunsho Daniyan, has decried the monthly 40 per cent deduction from local government allocations for the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
He said the flat deduction had hampered the smooth administrative running of councils.
Folorunsho, who stated this yesterday while interacting with newsmen in Lokoja, said “presently, local governments in the state have been paying half-salaries while SUBEB has been enjoying,” pointing out that the board received more than they needed for the primary school teachers.
He said contrary to speculation in some quarters, the inability of councils to pay their staffers 100 per cent salary had no connection with the state government, stressing that the governor was not tampering with their allocation.
He said: “I want to say categorically that the state government is not interfering with our allocation at all. We don’t need local government autonomy in Kogi state because we have financial autonomy as regards our allocation.
“The reason council areas find it difficult to pay full salary to their staff is largely due to the dwindling the federal allocations. In addition, the 40 per cent flat rate deducted to SUBEB from each of the council allocation is outrageous.
“I have less than 500 Teachers in my local government council, but regrettably , they deduct the same 40 percent from my allocation with other local government whose primary teachers are close to 1000 or over 1000. That is unfair. Let me illustrate further. The allocation that come to my local government in January is N65 million. My staff salary is N65.5 million. How can I pay full salary when SUBEB will usurp 40 per cent of the allocation?”
He, therefore, urged the House of Assembly to assist in reversing the trend.
