2016 Budget: Enugu govt proritises staff salaries, emoluments

The Enugu State Government on Monday said it would give priority to payment of salaries, emoluments and entitlement of civil servants as the cardinal way of achieving welfare package in its 2016 budget.

Speaking with NAN in Enugu, the state Commissioner for Information, Dr Godwin Udeuhele, said that the government had resolved to pay its workers on or before 25th each month.

Udeuhele said that Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, whom he described as a responsible family man, feels the pain civil servants that are breadwinners of families go through when their salaries are delayed or not paid.

'As far as the governor is concerned; he has no plan to sack any civil servant even when some state governors think it is the right thing to do.

'However, he had decided to give civil servants special attention as he knows he needed a well-motivated work-force to achieve his quest to increase the state IGR.

'To this end, the state government had taken a resolve to pay workers on or before 25th of every month; while pension and other emoluments are looked into.

'The government has made this a cardinal objective of its welfare package in its 2016 budget; since the state is predominantly a civil service state,' he noted.

The commissioner also urged residents of the state to give the government maximum co-operation in its programmes and policies. 'This is an administration that is committed to the welfare and well-being of Enugu state people as well as one that had resolved to tell the people the truth on what it is doing. So, there is no place for propaganda in this administration.

'The governor, being a financial expert by training, is working to keep the state financial status healthy to meet all its financial obligations,' he said.