The recent payroll audit initiated by the Benue State Government has resulted in significant cost savings of N1.2bn from the state’s monthly wage bill, as stated by authorities.
Speaking to journalists in Makurdi on Thursday, the state’s Commissioner for Finance and Budget Planning, Mr Michael Oglegba, made this remark.
Oglegba stressed that the federal allocation for the state remained within the range of N6.5 billion to N7 billion, questioning the validity of the figures presented by the past administration as unrealistic.
The Commissioner said that the numbers propagated by the previous administration indicated that the entirety of the state’s monthly federal allocation was insufficient to cover the recurrent expenses.
‘When we came in we set up a team to review the wage bill of the state, and fortunately, I was in charge of that team.’
‘So, what we did was to start from the wage bill of the state civil service; from there, we went to the State Universal Basic Education Board, the Teaching Service Board, and the local government councils, and the wage bill has come down drastically.’
‘If the immediate past administration said the wage bill was N7billion and the income was around N6.5billion to N7billion, what that meant was that before the money came in it was already spent.’
‘It meant that they were unable to meet the liabilities of the state, such as the monthly recurrent expenditures; there was zero money available for capital projects. That is the implication,’ he said.
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Oglegba added, ‘If you hear Alia quote N1.2billion, it means the real position of the wage bill as at the moment of talking. This is because this audit is ongoing.’
‘We are not done yet. So, why I can’t give you a specific number now is because it is an ongoing process, month by month the wage bill drops.’
The commissioner said the government had paid five months of workers’ salaries in the first four months of the administration.
‘Now salaries are paid consistently on every 25th day of the month, even before federal allocation drops,’ he said.
According to Oglegba, the Alia administration, within five months of governance, accomplished significant milestones without relying on borrowing to fulfill financial commitments, such as salary disbursements and contractor payments.
‘We created headroom so that we can now comfortably pay workers every month. If you notice, we pay salaries before federal allocation drops.’
‘The federal allocations drop around 25 to 28 of every month, and we pay salaries on the 25th of every month.’
‘That means that we raised the monies meant for salaries before the allocation drops. It is important to make it clear that the monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) alone is not enough to pay salaries,’ he said.
He said that even the federal allocation had not improved in spite of the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.
He said the state government was only being smart in cutting down the cost of running government.
‘The federal allocation has not improved drastically. People think that with the removal of subsidy, the monies have been increased or maybe tripled, no, it hasn’t. We still get the normal things we used to get. We get N7 billion at times, it is not fixed.’
‘In fact, the amount was six points, something billions until commissioners of finance in the country protested last month, and it went up marginally by a billion naira. So, we are still within the range that we were in the past.’
‘What is different now is that we have reduced the cost of doing business to the barest minimum. When we discover a new way to save government money, we go for it.’
‘For example, since the 1980s, the state government has remained on the 1100 KVA line, both the State Secretariat and Government House. It has taken Alia coming into the government to change it to a 3300 KVA power line. And this means more power supply.’
‘It means the N35 million being spent monthly on diesel is cut down to the minimum of maybe N10 million for electricity bill.’
‘It means that what was spent on repairs and maintenance of the generators can now be channeled into another important thing. These are smart decisions taken in all areas of government and we are saving money,’ he said.
Citing effective resource management, he noted that the state had initiated the construction of 16 township roads in Makurdi, installation of street lights, rehabilitation and renovation of the state Assembly Complex, and the revamping of the state secretariat, among various other key projects.