Nasarawa state governor, Abdullahi Sule has decried the inability of nine out of the 13 local government councils in the state to pay workers salaries despite implementation of LG autonomy in the state.

The governor was among the first governor’s to implement the directive of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) on direct allocation to the local government areas.

He said this at Wamba local government while performing the foundation laying ceremony of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) project for the building of a primary school in the area.

According to him, “I deliberately refused to be part of the allocation but after the sharing formulary was done, nine local government chairmen run to me seeking permission to use funds meant for capital projects to be able to pay salaries.

Sule who apologised to the staffers of the nine local governments for none payment of their salaries called on the people to elect educated and competent people who can effectively handle the finances of their councils, especially in such difficult situation.

Governor Sule said that his administration’s focus is targetted at the rural communities who are surviving without even decayed infrastructures and in abject poverty adding, ” you can imagine a primary school in Mararaba built over 50 years ago with decayed infrastructures.

Earlier, the senior special assistant to the governor on SDGs Murtala Muhammed said due process in line with global standard was followed in awarding the contract to Asaa Global Integrated Ventures at the cost of N19 million

The contract is to build four classrooms, staff office, headmaster’s office, toilets and solar power borehole which will also benefit the communities.

Chairman of Wamba local government area, Abubakar Abas thanked the governor for matching words with action by responding to the challenges of rural communities. (Vanguard)