Lalong govt owed workers N11bn salary arrears – Gov

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Lalong govt owed workers N11bn salary arrears – Gov

The Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang, on Monday, said his predecessor, Simon Lalong, left unpaid workers’ salaries to the tune of N11bn for him.

Mutfwang disclosed this on Monday in Jos while addressing the citizens during an event organised by the state-owned media in conjunction with the office of the Director of Press and Public Affairs to the Governor to mark Democracy Day.

Mutfwang said in February, the Lalong administration paid only N900m out of the N2.9bn wage bill.

He said, “Over the years, Plateau had deviated from the right path and that is why we decided to steer the state to the right path. With the little we have seen since taking over, there is a lot of work to be done. We inherited a civil service on strike. Out of a wage of N2.9bn for February 2023, only N900m was paid. As of now, I can tell the people of Plateau State, without politicking, that we owe salaries up to May to the tune of N11bn, and what we inherited in the coffers of the Plateau State Government is N1.1bn.”

The governor also clarified that he did not sack the workers recruited into the civil service by his predecessor but only suspended them to pave the way for an investigation of the irregularities allegedly perpetrated by the past government.

He said, “We discovered that some of them who were employed by the past administration had their employment letters backdated. This is wrong. So, we are investigating the matter to ensure that laid down rules and regulations are followed.”

Mutwang also lamented the poor handling of security matters in the state by the past administration, describing the situation as alarming.

He said, “Two days after I took over, we convened a security council meeting, and to our shock, there had never been any security council meeting on the Plateau for the past year. And we had to convene that meeting because only three weeks ago,we lost over a hundred souls on the Plateau in the Mangu LGA. Just yesterday (Sunday), we lost another 23 persons in the Riyom LGA and still counting. Yesterday also, the Chief of Mushere in Bokkos LGA was kidnapped.”

The Governor said it was in order to address the security challenge that his administration decided to appoint a senior military officer as Special Adviser on Security.

“We know we are going to start in a difficult way but we did not think it was going to be this difficult. We do not make excuses, we come to find solutions and by the grace of God, we will find solutions and restore confidence in government,” he said.