We don’t owe you N800m, Kogi tells dep gov

The Kogi state government, Monday refuted the claims the deputy governor of the state, Elder Simon Achuba is being owed over N800 million as salaries and entitlements.

The response by the state government was sequel to a letter written to the state government by the deputy governor demanding for payment of his salaries and other entitlements.

The state government said the salaries of the deputy governor had been paid up to  the same date and time the governor and other political office holders in the  state received payments.

A statement issued by Director General,  Media and Publicity to Governor Yahaya Bello, Mr Kingsley Fanwo which was made available to newsmen in Lokoja Monday said the salaries of the deputy governor had not been stopped at any time since he came into office.

The statement said the sum of N786, 427,480  of the outrageous N819, 709,980  claimed by Elder Achuba had neither been approved nor processed for payment by the government.

“The Deputy Governor is aware that by virtue of extant financial regulations, even where expenditures are provided for in the budget, they are still subject to approvals based on an estimation that funds to defray will be available.

“And where they are approved, the release of such funds still depend on the availability of funds. The Deputy Governor is also aware that those expenditures may not be approved or that lesser sums may be approved based on the availability of funds.

“The claims of the deputy governor in this regard are therefore premature. Of the N819, 709,980 claimed by him, there are expenditures such as unauthorised pledges running into N23,200,000  which are not provided for in the corresponding budgets of the relevant year.

“Also included are claims for unauthorised trips of the deputy governor and his wife and other expenses which may or may not be approved; yet the deputy governor has claimed them as due for payment,” the statement explained.

The statement added that out of N819, 709,980 claimed by Elder Achuba,  only N33, 282, 500  has been approved for payment, stressing that  the deputy governor knows the very stiff competition for the meagre resources of the state by the wage bill, loan repayments, infrastructure bills among others.

“As result of this, there is need to ration scarce resources to serve the majority of our people rather than a few. It is therefore not deliberate that these approvals have not been cash- backed.

“It is hoped that resources will become available shortly to meet not only these demands but those of others which have not been cash backed for longer periods than those of the deputy governor,” the statement reiterated.

It will be recalled that last week, counsel to the deputy governor wrote to the state government giving a seven-day ultimatum to pay the deputy governor, Elder Simon Achuba his backlog of salaries and other emoluments totalling  N819, 709,980, which has not been paid since 2017.

Leave a Reply