Dutse – Governor Muhammadu Badaru of Jigawa state has given an assurance to civil servants that his administration will henceforth promptly pay their salaries till the end of his tenure in 2019.
Badaru stated this on Wednesday during a quarterly meeting with Directors, Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors in Dutse..
He said 2016 was very difficult for his government because he faced a lot of challenges including the payment of workers’ salaries.
The Governor announced that the state got an intervention fund from the Federal Government this month before it was able to pay salaries. The government also borrowed money to enable local government councils pay their staff.
According to him, with the savings of about N19 billion which he has made, he will be able to pay workers salaries in 2017, 2018, 2019 without any problem.
He also gave an assurance that he would be able to pay a five percent annual bonus to the workers.
Badaru said that because of the financial crunch, he was able to accomplish only 45 per cent of capital projects in 2016.
He stressed that he is working hard to replace oil with agriculture for the sustainable development of the state.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Jigawa Chapter, Alhaji Usman Ya’u thanked the Governor for the prompt payment of salaries to workers and pension to retired civil servants.
Ya’u appealed to the Governor to elevate some Directors to posts of Permanent Secretaries to fill the existing vacancies.
“Due to shortage of Degree holders in the state civil service, we are also appealing to the Governor to sponsor our staff with Higher National Diploma to Bayero University Kano, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Usumanu Danfodio University Sokoto and University of Jos to obtain degrees.