Ondo State Government has denied receiving any bailout from the Federal government to pay outstanding workers salary because the state only received N2.2bn June allocation from the Federation account.
At a joint media briefing addressed by the state’s Commissioner for Information Hon, Kayode Akinmade and Commissioner for Finance, Chief Yele Ogundipe explained that after the state governors met with President Muhammadu Buhari over non-payment of salaries, no concrete action has been taken in providing the bailout the governors requested.
Ogundipe said “I can tell you that so far, no concrete action has been taken in that direction, notwithstanding the fact that all across the nation and in particular in Ondo, most people have read in the newspapers and heard that the Federal government distributed over N720b to assist the states in the payment of salaries on Monday.
“I was present at the Monday meeting and I can confirm to you that what happened was that the taxes paid by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) was distributed among the three tiers of government in proportion of the revenue allocation formulae.
“The net figure distributed across was N344.99b out of which the Federal government got 52.68 % amounting to about N152b. The states got 26%, which amounted to 92 b for the 36 states and the Federal Capital , Abuja, while the Local governments got 20%, which amounted to N71b.
“But in Ondo State, the government does not interfere with the allocation and distribution of fund by the local governments, so what actually came to us as a state, was N2.2b and our salary bill in a month is N4b, so this is not a bailout that the President meant. This is not the bailout that our people are looking forward to. This is just part of the money that should have been shared with our allocation figures in June that was not shared.”