The Bayelsa State Government has said that, a delay in the monthly meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, may result in a slight delay in the payment of salaries of civil servants for the month of June, 2018.
The State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Maxwell Ebibai, said in a statement on Thursday that, that the crucial monthly FAAC meeting could not hold, because of the inability of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation to present accurate figures of revenue collected for the month to the Committee .
He said that, the meeting could not hold because of observed discrepancies in the figures presented by the NNPC to FAAC.
Ebibai explained further that, this inability of the NNPC to present accurate and agreeable returns to FAAC was responsible for the lingering delay in holding the June FAAC meeting.
The Commissioner explained that, the Bayelsa State Government was obliged to alert the workers and indeed the good people of the state that, the delay in the FAAC meeting could result in a slight delay in the payment of salaries in the state.
However, Ebibai urged the citizens to show the usual understanding in the event of any delay in salary payment, stressing that, the government had always given priority to the prompt payment of salaries to its workers.
He added that, the Restoration Government led by the State Governor, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, holds workers in high esteem and had always appreciated their efforts and contributions to the development of the state.
According to him, efforts were being intensified to prevail on the NNPC to present acceptable figures to FAAC, in order to resolve the stalemate.
He said, “As a responsible government, we have always demonstrated a deep consciousness of our responsibilities to our workers and other citizens of our great state. This, we have done over the years with prompt payment of salaries to our workers.
“However, we feel obliged to inform our citizens that, the unfortunate delay in holding the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting for the month of June may result in a slight delay in the payment of salaries.
“We wish to advise our workers not to panic as FAAC is making efforts to prevail on the NNPC to provide accurate figures of returns to resolve this stalemate. We seek the understanding of our dear citizens on this issue which we believed would be resolved soon.”
Ebibai assured the workers that, the government would pay the salaries for the month of June as soon as the stalemate over the amount remitted to the Federation Account for the month was resolved.
