Nuhu Zaki, Bauchi State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, has said as from February, all the local governments in the state would take over the payment of their staff salaries.
Zaki made this known at a news conference following a meeting between Governor Bala Mohammed, the 20 LG chairmen and heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Bauchi on Thursday.
He said all the local government chairmen in the state would come up with their own nominal and payrolls to be submitted for comparison and vetting to enable the Local Governments to take up the salary payments.
He said: “On the issue of salaries, by God’s grace, by February (this month), local governments would take over the payment of salaries of their staff themselves, instead of channeling it to the Treasury or the Ministry of Finance to make payments of LG staff like the Local Education Authority, Primary Health Care and others.
“From now onward, in-sha-Allahu, the LG chairmen would make their own nominal roll and payroll in order to sanitise their payrolls.”
The Commissioner commended the state governor for his support to the elected LG chairmen in addition to his commitment to bringing a lot of developmental projects to the state.
Also speaking, Mahmud Ma’aji, Bauchi Local Government Area Chairman, said the governor’s vision and mission on handling the affairs of the state was very profound.
Ma’aji said: “The Accountant General has been mandated to come with a committee on how best funds can be raised and allocated to LGs in order to ensure that development is brought about in the respective LGs through the chairmen.
“The whole essence is to ensure the autonomy of the local government as promised by the governor in his campaign promises.
“To this end, we want to appreciate his effort and we believe that there is going to be light at the end of the tunnel.”