The Governor of Imo State, Mr Rochas Okorocha has on Wednesday disclosed that the state’s monthly wage bill has outstripped it’s monthly statutory allocation from the Federal Government.
“The monthly wage bill of the state is N4.2 billion which is far higher than what we receive from federal allocation including the internally generated revenue which means that the state government has always been operating on a deficit. As at December 31, 2015 the state received N1.9 billion from the Federal Government while the monthly wage bill of the state for the same period was N4.2 billion.”, Mr. Rochas made the disclosure while speaking to newsmen at the Government house in Owerri.
The Governor further said; “We cannot continue to patch a cracked wall as if all is well, we need to break it down in order to rebuild it, and the current wage bill of the state is beyond our capacity. Imo State now receives the least allocation among the South-East states because of the monthly repayment of the bailout fund which the state took from the Federal Government, a situation which has further compounded the financial situation of the state.”
While he reiterated that there was no going back on the state government’s decision to concession the management of parastatals, the governor disclosed that in spite of the challenges facing the state financially, no worker is being owed any salary.