Massive Fraud: Kogi Councils Unable to Pay Salaries
Category: Kogi News
While they receive an average of N180 million each monthly, they
can’t pay an average of N60 million monthly staff salary. Why?
Mr Isaac Ibe, 42, is a staff of
Igalamela-Odolu Local Government Area of Kogi State. To him, life has
become unbearable over the non-payment of his salaries in full for over
one year now. As a result he cannot cater for his family, as if he were
not in an employment.
Speaking in an interview with Sunday Trust, Ibe said, “I’m a Level 8
Officer, and my monthly salary is supposed to be N50,000. But I’m being
paid N20,000 because of what we are told is percentage payment. We
have been turned into beggars. To pay the school fees of my children has
been difficult. Most times I have to depend on Good Samaritans to meet
my obligations as the head of my family.” Mr Ibe is not the only one
caught in this labyrinth. Malam Hassan Otse, a staff of Ijumu Local
Government Area of Kogi State has the same pathetic story to tell. He
lives like a hanger-on because for over a year now, he’s been paid half
of the monthly salary he is entitled to.
Malam Otse is also a Level 8 Step 5 Officer in Ijumu Local
Government. His monthly take home pay is supposed to be N57,000, but he
told Sunday Trust that he is being paid N21,000, barely 50 per cent of
what is due to him monthly. “I can neither feed my family nor do other
things to make them comfortable,” Malam Otsesaid. “I have to borrow
money to be able to pay my children’s school fees. I don’t even know how
I will pay back the money I have borrowed from my creditors,” he said.
Otse, who has a wife and five children, said he suffered from low
self-esteem because he could not meet the family’s demand, asking “what
is the essence of working when one cannot meet his obligations to his
family.”
THE CONCEPT OF PERCENTAGE SALARY PAYMENTS: The genesis of percentage
or half-salary payment, according to our findings, was for two reasons:
the dwindling allocation from the Federation Account and the
implementation of what is termed salary relativity and minimum wage.
First, though the crude oil price rose from $56.35 per barrel in 2009 to
$110 per barrel in 2012, the monthly allocation to states and local
governments dropped sharply, no thanks to oil theft put at about 100,000
barrels per day in the Niger Delta. In Kogi, the percentage salary
payment started in 2011 following the passage of the National Minimum
Wage Law, which necessitated that all government employees earn, at
least, N18,000. The thenKogi State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris,
claiming that the state government could not pay the wage, came up with
what was termed salary relativity, meaning an augmentation of the
salaries, though short of the minimum wage. The wage bill in local
governments shot up, such that the councils could not pay the
‘relativity salary.’ What some resorted to was the payment of a
percentage of the sum, promising that at a future date when the
financial situation improved, the balance would be paid. The situation
never improved. Going by the original schedule, local governments in
Kogi State were supposed to implement the payment of the N18,000 minimum
wage in January 2014. Though it has done so in principle, due to the
paucity of funds, this has not been implemented. Initially, salaries
were delayed until the next months in some local governments. In others,
payments were made by instalment, depending on the availability of
funds and what came from the Federation Account to councils that very
month. Sunday Trust further gathered that some of the councils had to
take overdraft to augment the shortfall from the Federation Account and
pay salaries. Mr Ibe said the situation got worse, from delay in
payments, to the payment of half-salary, then to percentages, depending
on the capacity of the councils and the disposition of council chairmen.
In the last one and half years the percentage salary payment has come
to stay in the councils and it is going from bad to worse, as some
workers may not receive their salaries at all, especially when such
workers are branded as ‘ghost workers’ without evidence. The percentage
payment varies from local government to local government. Some pay 15
per cent, others pay between 20 per cent and 30 per cent, while others
pay 40 per cent. Out of the 21 local governments only Lokoja and Okene
local governments paid salaries in full until December last year when
they joined other local governments in the percentage salary payment.
These councils said they had to join in the percentage payment because
of the full implementation of N18,000 minimum wage in January this year.
In the percentage payment, Okehi, Ogori/Magongo, Kabba/Bunu, Ijumu,
Yagba-West andYagba-East as well as Adavi are paying between 30 and 40
per cent. All the nine local governments in Kogi East are also paying
between 30 and 40 per cent. Lokoja, Okene andAjaokuta Local Government
Areas pay 55 per cent salary to their staff members. However, our
reporter gathered that the percentage payments depend on the disposition
of the chairmen,hence a local government could pay 30 per cent this
month, and by next month decide to pay 35 per cent or 50 per cent.
HIGH ALLOCATION VERSUS PERCENTAGE SALARY PAYMENT: The irony in the
wage crisis in Kogi Local Government is apparent, considering the fact
that it is coming at a time when allocations from Federation Account to
the local governments have quadrupled. Before the price of crude oil
stabilised at $100 per barrel since 2010, the local governments received
between N40 million and N70 million monthly from Abuja, based on the
status of the councils. At that time, neither was salary owed nor was it
paid in fractions. However, since 2011, the allocations to the councils
have risen tremendously. For instance, data obtained from the Ministry
of Finance for allocations paid in December 2013 indicated that the
least amount received by the local governments was paid to Ogori/Magongo
council, amounting to N121,907,625.48, while the highest allocation
went to Okene local council which was N220,155,916.45. Dekina Local
Government received an amount quite close to what Okenewas paid, i.e.
N210,523,828.59. The total sum received by local councils in Kogi State
in December 2013 was N3,500,586,397.14. (See table for details of the
payment in December 2013). So, why is it difficult for local councils to
pay salaries? A local government chairman who did not want his name
mentioned in this story because all council chairmen have been gagged on
this matter, revealed that the application of the funds had been
bedevilled by massive fraud. “For instance, there used to be what was
called joint or common project,” the council chairman said. “As much as
N30 million was being deducted from our accounts at source by the
Ministry of Local Government for this purpose. We have 21 local
governments. That means N630 million went into that account. But the
fact is that there is no joint project on ground. What used to happen
was that some fake contracts would be awarded projects and payments made
to the proxy of some state officials. Then, chairmen would be given
cuts from the figure. These fake contractors are building houses in
Lokoja, Abuja and even abroad. We had a clash over this deduction, so we
have resolved that there would be no deduction at source for any joint
project. Chairmen now have to meet to decide what to contribute for
joint projects.” Our reporter learnt that the joint project idea was a
source of massive fraud to the point that the branch manager of a bank
in Lokoja, having discovered the porous way the fund was usually
distributed, eloped with some N190 million from ALGON’s account and
resigned. No action could be taken against him. Also, a former chairman
of ALGON, Hon Farouk Adejo, who was the caretaker chairman of Olamaboro
Local Government Area, nearly lost his life over his opposition to the
deductions for joint projects. A bomb was said to have been planted at
his residence in Lokoja. Because of the vigilance of his family members,
the suspicious object was discovered and police invited. The Police
Command in Lokoja’s anti-bomb squad had to detonate the bomb. Such was
the tension in the state over corruption-laden concept of joint project
by local councils. Our reporter learnt that there is no joint project on
ground in most of the local councils. A semblance of such a project was
the 20 housing units in every local government initiated during the
regime of former Governor Ibrahim Idris. The projects were never
completed, as the housing units have been abandoned at various stages of
construction. In Olomaboro Local Government Area, the houses have been
abandoned. Recently, they were allocated to councillors, but the local
council lawmakers rejected them. Our reporter learnt that projects
being executed at local councils at present are funded by SURE-P and
MDGs.
CORRUPTION IN SUBEB: Apart from this joint project fraud, the local
government chairman, who spoke in anonymity, claimed that there is the
bottomless pit called the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
“This is where the worst fraud takes place,” the local council chairman
told Sunday Trust. “Every month, between N60 million and N70 million
allocation to my local council is deducted at source and given to SUBEB
as teachers’ salaries. I don’t decide how my teachers are paid; I don’t
have a say. Right from Lokoja, this money goes to SUBEB. But I suspect
there are hundreds of ghost workers on SUBEB payroll. I tell you, in the
last 10 years, no teacher has died; retired or resigned in Kogi State.
Is that possible? The wage bill has been constant. The SUBEB officials
are living big, while other workers are languishing in penury. We have
called for a probe into the payment of teachers’ salaries.” The council
chairman, who claimed that his monthly wage bill is about N56 million,
added that with all the deductions being done from an average of N180
million monthly allocation to his council, he cannot pay local
government staff salaries. “I have to take overdraft from banks to be
able to pay 35 per cent of the salaries of staff in my local government.
This situation would remain until our financial situation improves.” In
May 2014, Governor Idris Wada sacked the Chairman of Kogi State SUBEB,
Alhaji JibrinUsman with the entire board, accusing the agency of rot
and fraud. This was as a result of the non-payment of primary school
teachers’ salaries for more than five months, in spite of the huge
allocations to the body from the local governments’ accounts. With each
local government contributing between N60 million and N70 million into
SUBEB purse every month for teachers’ salaries, procurement of textbooks
and teaching aids, the agency nets an average of N1.3 billion monthly
from local governments. Why can’t SUBEB pay teachers’ salaries? An
official of the agency who volunteered information but did not want to
be named alleged that not all this money is paid into SUBEB account.
“Though it is on record that SUBEB gets N1.3 billion monthly, the fact
remains that the amount available to us is about a half of that sum,
like N800 million. Teachers’ salaries is about N780 million. We don’t
know what happens to the rest. And this money is not enough to pay
teachers salaries in Kogi State.” If staff salaries are put at less than
N780 million, then the suspicion is that the unaccounted sum, put at
about N500 million, may be used to service Kogi State political
stakeholders, among them top party leaders in Kogi and Abuja, lawmakers
and political hangers-on, Sunday Trust learnt. However, the pay schedule
at SUBEB is adulterated with ghost workers, two previous investigations
into the agency have revealed. As a result of the outcry by local
government chairmen over the huge sums being deducted from their
allocations in the name of teachers’ salaries, Governor Idris Wada set
up a committee headed by a former Accountant-General of the State, Mr
Paul Audu. At the end of its investigation, it was revealed that there
were as many as 884 ghost schools in the 21 local government areas of
the state. In these schools the total number of ghost workers was put at
2,153. There were also some 1,922 unauthorised employments done by
education secretaries in the various local councils, and as many as
86persons who had retired were still on the staff payroll. Also, while
on SUBEB’s payroll there was a total of 3,043 headmasters, the panel
discovered that there were actually only 2,156 headmasters in all the
local councils, a difference of 887 who were tagged as ghost
headmasters. However, the differences in the list of SUBEB and
headmasters show that in Adavi local government, there are five ghost
schools, Ajaokuta one, Ankpa 117, Basa 47, Dekina 142, Ibaji102, Idah
35, Igalamela-Odolu 6, Ijumu 49, Kabba Bunu 82. Kogi 11. Others are
Lokojathree, Mopa-Moro, 35, Ofu, 44, Ogori/Magogo, eight, Okehi, 23,
Okene, 16, Olamaboro, 53,Omala, 53, Yagba East, 52 and Yagba West, 55.
and teaching aids, the agency nets an average of N1.3 billion monthly
from local governments. Why can’t SUBEB pay teachers’ salaries? An
official of the agency who volunteered information but did not want to
be named alleged that not all this money is paid into SUBEB account.
“Though it is on record that SUBEB gets N1.3 billion monthly, the fact
remains that the amount available to us is about a half of that sum,
like N800 million. Teachers’ salaries is about N780 million. We don’t
know what happens to the rest. And this money is not enough to pay
teachers salaries in Kogi State.” If staff salaries are put at less than
N780 million, then the suspicion is that the unaccounted sum, put at
about N500 million, may be used to service Kogi State political
stakeholders, among them top party leaders in Kogi and Abuja, lawmakers
and political hangers-on, Sunday Trust learnt. However, the pay schedule
at SUBEB is adulterated with ghost workers, two previous investigations
into the agency have revealed. As a result of the outcry by local
government chairmen over the huge sums being deducted from their
allocations in the name of teachers’ salaries, Governor Idris Wada set
up a committee headed by a former Accountant-General of the State, Mr
Paul Audu. At the end of its investigation, it was revealed that there
were as many as 884 ghost schools in the 21 local government areas of
the state. In these schools the total number of ghost workers was put at
2,153. There were also some 1,922 unauthorised employments done by
education secretaries in the various local councils, and as many as
86persons who had retired were still on the staff payroll. Also, while
on SUBEB’s payroll there was a total of 3,043 headmasters, the panel
discovered that there were actually only 2,156 headmasters in all the
local councils, a difference of 887 who were tagged as ghost
headmasters. However, the differences in the list of SUBEB and
headmasters show that in Adavi local government, there are five ghost
schools, Ajaokuta one, Ankpa 117, Basa 47, Dekina 142, Ibaji102, Idah
35, Igalamela-Odolu 6, Ijumu 49, Kabba Bunu 82. Kogi 11. Others are
Lokojathree, Mopa-Moro, 35, Ofu, 44, Ogori/Magogo, eight, Okehi, 23,
Okene, 16, Olamaboro, 53,Omala, 53, Yagba East, 52 and Yagba West, 55.
PROTESTS OVER PERCENTAGE SALARY PAYMENT: Meanwhile, the percentage
payment has generated serious controversy and protest by the National
Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in some local governments.
For instance, in Yagba East Local Government Area, workers protested for
a week in May 2014 and prevented the chairman, Hon Funsho Ibrahim, from
entry into his office. They claimed that while workers were being paid a
fraction of their salaries, the Local Government chairman, councillors
and other political office holders were receiving their salaries in
full. After the protest in Yagba East, workers of Okehi Local Government
also embarked on protest as a result of the percentage payment. The
development, Sunday Trust learnt, forced the National Union of Local
government Employee (NULGE) to write to council chairmen and the
Ministry of Local Government insisting that, henceforth, both the
workers and political appointees be treated equally with percentage
payment. The state NULGE president, Comrade Tom Abutu, said “We will
continue to resist any attempt to short-change workers as we have been
doing since the issue of half and percentage payment. Only local
government workers are suffering from the salary percentage payment
syndrome in the state. Though the problem began in 2011, it was not as
bad as it is now.” He, however, attributed the development to the first
line charge deduction from the local government allocation. “The teacher
first-line charge deduction is N1.3 billion. Traditional rulers,
pensioners are also there. Aside the statutory deductions, there were
other deductions that also take place. We then wrote a letter to the
governor that apart from statutory deductions, all other deductions
should be stopped. We are looking at it that it was as a result of these
deductions, especially that of teachers that council workers cannot
receive full salaries.” He said the percentage has serious implications
on its members, as many have died due to lack of money to seek medical
attention when they took ill. Many could not pay school fees for
children while others cannot even feed adequately. Comrade Tom said,
“The only way out is to do a proper screening to ascertain genuine
workers. Some people are state government workers and also they are on
the payroll of local governments. Some work in Abuja, but they are
still on the payroll of local governments. This must stop.” In an
interview with Sunday Trust, the Association of Local Government
Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGON), Kogi State Chapter claimed that the state
government and council were working to ensure the resumption of full
salary payment to workers. Though the current Chairman of the group in
Kogi State, Hon Aloysius Okino, declined to grant Sunday Trust an
interview, his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Mr IbrahimObansa,
claimed that what is responsible for the inability of chairmen to pay
salaries was the shortfall from the federal account. “The councils are
also over-burdened by so many persons on their payrolls, majority of who
are ghost workers put on the payment vouchers by some unscrupulous
elements. It is hoped that the on-going screening will take care of this
and correct the anomalies. Also, the implementation of the minimum
wage by the councils is also another factor. Even localgovernments
managing to pay full salaries, like Okene, Lokoja, Ajaokuta and a few
others up till December 2013 have been affected by the percentage salary
syndrome. They have not been able to meet their salary obligation since
January 2014 due to the implementation of the minimum wage, without
corresponding improvement in their allocations from the Federation
Account.” Aside the percentage payment, Sunday Trust gathered that
local government workers are being owed arrears of between eight and 12
months.
BEYOND ALLOCATIONS: In Kogi State, the fraud that has made it
difficult to pay salaries to the council employees is not limited to how
politicians and civil servants feast on the allocation from the
Federation Account. Even Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) enters into
private pockets. Local councils generate funds through taxes collected
from traders, commercial motorcyclists, bus and taxi drivers, health
centres and environmental sanitation fines. An officer in the Accounts
Department of a local government told our reporter that: “Revenue
collectors don’t remit the total amount they collect into council
purses. They retain about 60 per cent of what they collect. The
supervisory councillors take a percentage. A percentage is taken to the
office of the council chairman who decides what to do with it. At the
end of the day, not much enters into the council’s treasury. As a result
of the crisis in the state, school teachers, in spite of the huge funds
paid into SUBEB purse, are on strike because the state government has
failed to pay minimum wage, while health workers have been on strike
because government failed to honour a deal reached with them. These
strikes have been on for between three and seven months now.
Culled from:Sunday Trust
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