From Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
Kogi state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has again expressed worry over reduction in the April Federation Account Allocation to the state which he said may vicariously affect the percentage payment to both local government and state workers.
Fears among the workers were heightened by the March allocation which the government said was higher than the April allocation that paid their salaries in percentages.
Meanwhile , revenues from the FAAC allocation accruing to the state stood for the month of April at N1,736,231,350.68 , the value added tax( VAT) component of N938,018,569.93 and exchange gains of N186,683,266.69 respectively.
Therefore, the state gross statutory revenue income for the month of April is N2,860,933,186.62 compared to N4,078,691,569.91 for the month of March.
The 21 local government areas in Kogi state received a net statutory allocation of N1,517,706,851.32 The value added tax (VAT) and Exchange gains for the month of April is N642,963,989.13 and N140,146,959.74 respectively. Hence, the local Government areas gross statutory revenue is N2,300,817,800.19.
It will be recalled that the Internal Revenue Generation (IGR) of the state has plummeted since the outbreak of coronavirus in the country forcing the state to pay salaries in percentages for the month of April.
Across sections of LGC and state workers expressed lamentation over impending massive slash in the salaries, which is worsened by the government’s penchant for not augmenting the Faac shortfall with IGR to pay salaries.
Workers expressed sadness why workers are always at the receiving end of any short fall in the Federal Account Allocation but wonder why there has been no reciprocal gesture in case of increment.
