The Kwara State Government is to augment the July 2016 federal allocation to local government councils in the state with N160m to ensure that teachers and all other local government workers are paid their full salaries for the month. The state governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, gave this commitment during an interaction with LG chairmen, their treasurers, labour leaders and top government officials on Monday night.

He said the intervention became necessary because the July allocation to local government councils is inadequate to pay the full salaries of all local government workers. He, however, hinged the intervention on the completion of the workers verification exercise, stressing that only workers that have been cleared will be paid.

Continuing, Alhaji Ahmed emphasized that with the recent increase in allocation to all tiers, growth in internal revenue and the expected savings from the workers verification exercise, all categories of workers in the state will henceforth receive salaries as and when due.

The governor's pledge followed a plea by the Chairman, Kwara State Chapter of Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Alhaji Abdullateef Okandeji, for the State government's intervention on the payment of salaries.

Governor Ahmed, who also gave an assurance that the state government will work with the LG chairmen to clear the backlog of salaries owed their workers, also directed the council chairmen to henceforth hold meetings with stakeholders in their respective local governments to discuss the value and utilization of monthly allocation.