Kogi State Government has said that a the huge loan it is servicing has made it impossible to pay workers’ salaries promptly.
State Director-General of Media and Publicity Kingsley Fanwo revealed this on Sunday in Lokoja, the state capital.
According to Fanwo, “Sometimes, we repay between N400 million and N500 million monthly as loans that add no value to the state.
“These loans were taken by the last two administrations and some of them were invested on projects that were never completed.
“When you go out, you will see Kogi Hotels, billions of naira was collected for that project and it was not completed, and it is not adding any value to the state.
“Also, the Kogi House in Abuja has gulped billions of naira, yet, it is not completed, not adding any value to the state.”
He added that, “It is increasingly difficult to muster enough resources to pay salaries regularly. As I speak with you, we are still owing March and April salaries.
“When you do a comparative analysis of wages in the North Central geo political zone, Kogi pays the highest and despite that, we have been very faithful.”
On bailout funds received from the Federal Government, Fanwo said they “were not gifts from the Federal Government, it was more or less a loan, so you have to prioritise what you use your bailout funds for.
“So, we used it basically for salaries and we were the only state in the federation that published how we used that bailout funds.
“Transparency and accountability are the hallmarks of this administration.”
