Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has dismissed widespread rumour that his administration was planning to downsize the state’s workforce because of economic constraints.
Governor Ortom who stated this while fielding questions from journalists at the end of the meeting he held with officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE and affiliate unions at Benue Peoples House, Makurdi, said the meeting addressed the problem of non-payment of salaries.
Governor Ortom said the difficulties he has faced in paying salaries arose as a result of the dwindling allocation to the state which dropped to N1.3 billion and explained that the allocation was too meager to meet the challenges confronting the state.
He maintained that Benue workers contributed immensely to his emergence as governor, and reiterated that he has no intention to downsize the workforce even in the face of economic challenges.
He said, the only way the state can wriggle out of the quagmire is to borrow money to offset the backlog of unpaid salaries of workers who are the ‘drivers of the economy’.
In separate interviews, the state Chairman of NLC, Comrade Godwin Anya, as well as his NULGE and TUC counterparts, urged the state governor to obtain more loans to clear workers’ salaries.
“I support the idea that the governor should borrow money again to clear workers’ salaries because as long as we live, we cannot die because there is no money, so, if it means borrowing one hundred times, NLC will agree that government should go ahead and borrow”, Anya said.
On his part, the state NULGE Chairman, Mr. Terungwa Igbe, also supported the move to obtain another loan to pay workers, stressing that local government workers needed to be paid.
