The Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has revealed why his state and 20 others are struggling to pay salaries and fulfil other financial obligations to people in the states.
Ortom said they couldn’t pay salaries because allocation from the federal government to the states has declined.
He disclosed this on Thursday while speaking on Arise TV programme, Morning Show.
The governor attributed the poor allocation and non-remittance from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, as the reason why more than 20 states in the country are currently having difficulties in paying salaries.
Responding to accusations from Benue pensioners and civil servants, Ortom explained that he inherited N70 billion arrears from previous governments.
He claimed that his administration has been able to deplete the N70 billion to N30 billion since he assumed office in 2015.
He said, “When I came in, I inherited arrears of pensions and salaries of over N70 billion, I have depleted that to N30 billion now from 2015 to date.
“On salaries, the challenge is not only with my state, more than 20 states are finding it difficult to pay salaries as it stands now and this is as a result of poor allocation from the federation account due to non remittance from the NNPC”.
