The Bayelsa State Government has announced a 30 per cent pay cut for all political appointees in the state.
The state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Jonathan Obuebite, who spoke on Thursday, shortly after the State Executive Council meeting in the Government House, Yenagoa, announced that the 30 per cent slash in salaries was necessitated by the prevailing economic situation.
He, however, gave a glimmer of hope for workers in the local governments, saying they would start receiving the salaries they were being owed as from Monday, May 16, 2016.
According to Obuebite, the SEC also resolved that payment of salaries would commence at the various designated centres including Peace Park, Samson Siasia Sports Complex, DSP Alamieyeseigha Banquet Hall, Izon Wari, Dr. Gabriel Okara Cultural Centre and Micro Finance Bank in Yenagoa.
Speaking alongside the Commissioner for Local Government Administration, Agatha Goma, Obuebite noted that the council sympathised with the workers.
He added that the payment of salaries for the council workers would be based on the recently-concluded verification exercise aimed at ascertaining the actual workforce in the local governments and ensuring that the right persons were paid.
The SEC, he said, decided to set up two committees to monitor salary payment at the state and local government levels, with representatives drawn from the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria.
He said the Head of Service, Dr. Peter Singabele, would be in charge of the committee for the state mainstream civil service, while Mrs. Agatha Goma would head that of the local governments.
According to him, the supervised payment is expected to further strengthen the verification exercise and confirm the payment vouchers emanating from the eight local government areas.
Obuebite also explained that the state government would set up farms across the eight LGAs, as part of efforts to boost its internally generated revenue and provide employment for youths.
The commissioner also said that the SEC had urged all commissioners to submit within a week, a work plan to guide their various ministries, adding that the government’s focus in its second term would be to complete all ongoing projects and pay workers’ salaries, within the means of available resources.
In his remarks, the Head of Service, Singabele, said the executive council directed that all permanent secretaries, heads and chief executives of parastatals and extra- ministerial departments as well as all headmasters and principals of secondary schools should prepare an authentic nominal roll and payroll of their various establishments.
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