Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has claimed that a “powerful cabal” has been milking the State through a huge wage bill.
He regretted that the state’s wage bill had risen from N5 billion to N7.8 billion in less than two years.
Ortom who was represented by his Special Adviser on Media, Tahav Agerzua made this revelation while speaking at a forum over the weekend in Makurdi, the state capital.
According to the governor, “The powerful cabal was behind the increasing wage bill of the state. The cabal manufactures and manipulates figures to milk Benue dry.”
While assuring that his administration would soon smash and prosecute the syndicate, Ortom went on to say that “The state government is worried as to why the wage bill keeps rising instead of coming down in spite of deaths and retirements in the service. Again, measures have been put in place to address this issue, including biometric data capturing and salary verification exercise.
“We think that there is a cabal that is milking the state and feeding on the wage bill. But let me tell you, the Commissioner of Finance is going to address the media and make public the findings of the various committees.”
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