By OLA AJAYI, Ibadan

GOVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has explained that the sharp cut in the monthly federal allocation to the state from N5billion to N2.6 was largely responsible for the inability of his administration to pay the pension of the retired primary school  teachers in the state.

He said this through his Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Zachaeus Adedeji on a radio programme in Ibadan.

The ex-teachers had marched through major roads in the state protesting their unpaid N16 billion.

But, Ajimobi said the issue had been politicised by his political opponents to discredit his administration against the forthcoming general elections.

Adedeji, who featured on a programme on a private radio station in Ibadan, also dismissed media reports by the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ms. Jumoke Akinjide that the state government had collected the $200 million allegedly facilitated by the Federal Government.

Other issues also addressed by the commissioner included rumoured tax increase by the administration, alleged capital flight, the N6.5 billion stolen by some officials of the Local Government Pension Board, budget performance as well as the financial engineering being applied by Governor Ajimobi among others.
He attributed the inability of the state government to yet pay the January salary to the 28 per cent reduction in federal allocation for the month which made the allocation to be a paltry N2.6 billion to the state, as against the N5 billion needed to pay salaries of workers.

Adedeji, who said that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting, which was supposed to be held in January, was not held until February 25, adding that the N2.6 billion allocated to the state has not been received.

He, however, said that government had no intention to impose new taxes on the people of the state but that the financial ingenuity being introduced into the management of the finances of the state by Governor Ajimobi would continue to see the government through.

On the outstanding pension of retired primary school teachers, the commissioner said that the N6.5 billion stolen by some Local Government Pension Board officials, the case of which is now in court, had made it impossible for government to pay the money.

Besides, he said that the payment of primary school teachers’ salaries and pensions were being undertaken by the federal, state and local governments, pointing out however, that the Federal Government had since stopped its own contribution.

He, however, said that several meetings had been held by government with the state branch of the National Association of Retired Primary School Teachers where it was jointly agreed that the pension funds would be paid in instalments.

Adedeji said that the first tranche of N100 million had already been paid and that the second tranche would soon be released by government.

On the $200 million World Bank loan, the commissioner said that the involvement of the Federal Government was not more than its statutory role in the collection of loan by any state, adding that the money had yet to be received by the state government.

He said that the money was expected to be paid in instalments by the World Bank over a period of five years and that the projects to be executed with the money would be supervised by the bank.

The commissioner also explained that the monetary donations received by the state from various individuals and corporate bodies after the August 16, 2011 flood disaster had been used in the construction of the affected bridges, one of which was the Restoration Bridge on the Secretariat Road

He described the allegation of the award of contracts in the state to foreign contractors by the opposition as mere fabrication, stressing that more than 60 per cent of the road contracts were being executed by local contractors.

Adedeji, who said that the names of all the contractors handling road projects in the state would soon be published, further explained that only big projects which the local contractors might not have the financial muzzle to handle were awarded to contractors outside the state.

He also said that the 2014 budget achieved 60 per cent performance in spite of the financial hiccups confronting the state like any other state, thus putting the state in the fourth position in term of budget performance among other states in the country.