I feel uncomfortable paying salaries in percentages, says Gov. Sule

Gov. Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State says he is not comfortable paying workers’ salaries in percentages because throughout his 30-year working life, he never got his salary in such manner.

Sule said this while addressing some suspended local government Directors of Personnel Management (DPMs) and Directors of Finance and Supplies (DFAs) at the Government House, Lafia, on Tuesday.

According to him, with what God has done for him, his conscience would not be clear, if as the Chief Executive of the state, he started paying salaries in percentages.

Sule, who was meeting with the suspended LG DPMs and DFAs for the first time, said he invited them to hear from them in the spirit of fair hearing.

While reaffirming his administration’s respect for financial autonomy for the local governments, the governor, however, said he was interested in the affairs of the councils because the welfare of the people of the state was his responsibility.

“For that reason, I constantly want to find out whether things are going on well or not. And in most cases, they are not going well,” he said.

He said that he invited the officials to hear their side of the story, since they were suspended over two months ago.

The governor recalled that the DPMs and DFAs were suspended over two months ago, based on complaints that they constituted problem at the councils.

“The truth of the matter is, you have not been at the councils for more than two months now, but the problem has not been solved.

“I will say that even if you are the problem, you are only part of the problem, because the problem is still there,” he said.

He explained that the meeting was for him to satisfy himself that he had been fair to them, even as he noted that a committee was presently investigating the financial activities of the local governments.

The governor said the committee might invite some of the DPMs and DFAs to appear before it.

He appealed to the officials to guide his administration on how best to resolve the lingering issues facing the local governments, stressing that he was willing to take any decision to correct the anomalies.

He urged the officials to be honest in identifying the problems bedevilling the councils.

Sule told the officials that approval for their suspension was given because he could not allow the DPMs and DFAs, numbering about 100 only, to bring the entire state to a standstill.

“I’m begging you, in the name of God. If you know the problem, if you guide me, I will not be afraid to take a decision to correct it,” he stated.

Responding on behalf of the officials, Mohammed Baban-Keke, DFA Karu Local Government, thanked the governor for according them fair hearing, with a view to clearing any doubt and to proffer solutions to the problems at the local governments.