Bauchi govt hands over LG salary payments to respective councils, says Commissioner

Mr Nuhu Zaki, Bauchi state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, has said that as from February, all the local governments in the state would take over the payment of  their staff salaries.

Zaki made this known at a news conference, following a meeting between  Gov. Bala Mohammed, the 20 LG chairmen, and heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in Bauchi, on Thursday.

He said  that all the local government chairmen in the state would come up with their own nominal and payrolls, to be submitted for comparison and vetting to enable the Local Governments to take-up the salary payments.

“On the issue of salaries, by God’s grace, by February (this month), local governments would take over the payment of salaries of their staff themselves, instead of channeling it to the Treasury, or the ministry of finance, to make payments of LG staff like the Local Education Authority (LEA), Primary Health Care (PHC) and others.

“From now onward, in-sha-Allahu, the LG chairmen would make their own nominal roll and payroll in order to sanitize their payrolls,” Zaki said.

The Commissioner commended the state governor for his support to the elected LG chairmen, in addition to his commitment to bringing a lot of developmental projects to the state.

Also speaking, Mr Mahmud Ma’aji, Bauchi local government chairman, said that the governor’s vision and mission on handling the affairs of the state was very profound.

“The accountant general has been mandated to come with a committee on how best funds can be raised and allocated to LGs in order to ensure that development is brought about in the respective LGs through the chairmen.

“The whole essence is to ensure the autonomy of the local government as promised by the governor in his campaign promises. To this end, we want to appreciate his effort and we believe that there is going to be light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.