Governor Ortom Finally Speak On ​Why He Cannot Clear Outstanding Salaries Of Workers As Promised

Earlier this year, the Benue state governor through his commissioner promised the Benue state workers , that he was going to clear all their outstanding salaries of workers before December. After the statement, Benue civil servants were optimistic and waited patiently for december which never came. However the governor has come out to state, why that day may not come Benue.info reported. Read it below;
 Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has explained the government’s inability to clear all outstanding salaries before Christmas as earlier promised.
Governor Ortom who was speaking to senior editors of the National Mirror Newspaper earlier in the week said despite the receipt of N12.7 billion from the federal government as debt refunds from the Paris and London clubs, the wage bill of the state and local governments has increased to N7.8 billion making it impossible to pay salaries.
“Our wage bill is N7.8 billion on average in a month and since August last year we’ve been receiving an average of N4 billion, though once in a while we have interventions like the bailout funds, like the infrastructure fund, like LNG fund that came in. But that is where we are.” the governor explained.
He also added that the internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has fallen to about N250 million which has not helped the situation.
His words: “I tell you the truth that it has been difficult getting funding because like I said we have a wage bill of N7.8 billion and we’re getting an average of N4 billion and our internally generated revenue is around N250 million it becomes a very big challenge solving all these problems.”
The state government has since resolved to pay two months salaries to workers before Christmas. According them, even though the N12.7 billion will not be enough to that purpose, they will source for funds to augment it