The Kogi Government says the discovery of N145 million fraud in the salary voucher of the Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, is responsible for the delay in the payment of July salary of its workers, Punch reports.
The Director-General, Kogi State Bureau of Information and Grassroots Mobilisation, Abdulmalik Abdulkareem, said this in a statement in Lokoja on Sunday – in response to an earlier threat by the institution’s local chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) to embark on an indefinite strike over the non-payment of July salary of its members.
Highlights:
- “Kogi State Government affirmed that the discovery of N145 million fraud in the salary vouchers was responsible for the delay in payment of the July salary. This is based on facts obtained from the office of Auditor-General of Kogi State.”
- Abdulmalik faulted the position of ASUP and other unions in the polytechnic, saying that the delay in payment of their July salary was ‘self-inflicted.’
- He alleged that some accounts staff of the polytechnic bloated the salary vouchers to defraud the state government of N145m.
- According to him, the salary is being delayed to give room for a thorough investigation into the alleged fraud.
- He, however, assured that all staff would start receiving their July salary as from September 11.
