Folake Sokoya
The Kwara State Government has clarified that only statutory deductions are made from the salaries of state and local government (LG) workers and pensioners.
This follows claims that the local government workers in the state received reduced pay instead of the full January salary as previously announced by the authorities.
The clarification was made in a statement on Wednesday by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communication to the State Governor, Dr. Muyideen Akorede.
According to him, other deductions are for loans and cooperatives as supplied to the payment consultants by the State Ministry of Finance and LG treasurers as well as a N200 monthly charge agreed and endorsed by all labour unions in the state, including the NUT, NLC, JNC and NULGE.
Dr. Akorede also pointed to the position of the Kwara State Chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) that the January Salary was paid in full and that no one is making unauthorized deductions from the monthly entitlements of local government staff and pensioners in the state.
He explained that it is the same platform used for paying state workers that is utilized for LG workers and pensioners in view of its efficiency and cost effectiveness.