From Kemi Yesufu, Abuja
The House of Representatives has called on Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State to pay up salaries owed workers in his state.
The House described as highly deplorable, the news that, Edward Soje, a director in the Kogi State civil service owed salaries for 11 months committed suicide over his inability meet his financial obligations.
But the Kogi State Government on Sunday stated that it owed the late Mr. Edward Soje eight months of unpaid salary before he committed suicide after the birth of triplets by his wife.
The state Head of Service, Mrs. Deborah Ogunmola, in a statement released in Lokaja, said Soje received his monthly salary up till December 2016, when payment was stopped by government after proof emerged that he falsified his age records.
The lawmakers called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that bail-out funds given states, especially states like Kogi, which are still struggling to be up-to-date, with the payment of salaries and pension, use the funds for the payment of workers and pensioners.
The House also resolved to invite the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) in the next one week to explain how the bailout fund was utilised by states.
It also directed its Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged diversion N700 billion received as bailout funds by 28 states to further investigate how Kogi State has managed the fund it received.
