Our Reporter

Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule has decried paying workers’ salaries in percentages because he never experienced such in his 30-year life as a worker.

Sule stated 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.

Noting that God has been so merciful to him, he said his conscience would prick him if he begins to pay salaries in percentages.

Sule, who was meeting with the suspended local government DPMs and DFAs for the first time said he invited them to hear their own views about what led to their suspension in the spirit of fair hearing.

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

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

He said he invited the officials to hear their side of the story since they were suspended over two months ago because there were complaints that they constituted a problem at the councils.

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

“Even if you are the problem, you are only part of the problem, because the problem is still there,” he said.

He further explained that the meeting was to ensure that he had been fair to them, even as he noted that a committee was currently investigating the financial activities of the local government areas.

The governor said the committee might invite some of the DPMs and DFAs.

He appealed to the officials to guide his administration on how best to resolve the lingering issues facing the local government areas, 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, to bring the entire state to a standstill.

“If you identify the problem and guide me, I will not be afraid to take a decision to correct it,” he stated.

Mohammed Baban-Keke, DFA Karu Local Government Area, on behalf of others, 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 government areas.