The Plateau State commissioner of information and communication, Hon. Dan Manjang has dismissed the claim by online media that the state government is owing civil servants six months’ salary arrears and other sundry issues.
Hon. Dan made this known in an interview with newsmen in Jos.
According to Hon. Dan, the claim is erroneous and not true, stating that the state government is indeed owning but not all of the civil servant’s salaries.
“We staggered the payments. As of today, the political appointees are owed two months’ salary, while the core civil servants are owed one month’s salary. So, it is not true that the state government is owing up to six months’ salary. The claim is totally false. In fact, it is mischievous because everybody knows that we have paid the backlog; the backlog of no work no pay. We tried as much as possible; the Plateau State University Bokkos has resumed and very soon, the polytechnic is also reopening. Courses are being accredited in tertiary institutions as well as recruitment. So, we have done tremendously well with labor and that is why they gave the governor award and workers themselves christened him, “Governor Alert”.”
He added that plans are being put in place to clear every arrear before the end of the administration.
Addressing the complaints by the family of deceased civil servants who died in active service over non-payment of their death benefits, Hon. Dan said some of them have been paid while some are yet to get their payment.
“Every month, some amount of money is set aside for the payment of gratuity, death benefits, and pension. We have made attempts to get a firm that will pay the death benefits of these workers. We engaged United Capital and they have undertaken to pay the gratuity and the government will pay them via IPSO little by little at a discounted rate. We had a discussion with people that were involved and we all agreed that it must be at a discounted rate. There is a committee that was set up and is working right now to ensure that the issue is resolved.”
It is our intention that we should be able to pay this death benefits and gratuity to the families of deceased workers. If we are unable to pay, the people that are coming after us should be able to do that. We have a document that we are going to present to them but to say that we have not paid or have not made any effort at all is not true.
