Coronavirus: Plateau Slashes Officials’ Allowances, Suspends Minimum Wage

Central Nigeria’s Plateau State is slashing its spendings by 40 percent to cope with revenue cuts caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

This affects all recurrent expenditures other than salaries and pensions, the Governor of the State, Simon Lalong on Tuesday.

Specifically, allowances of government officials will be cut by 50%, Mr. Lalong in a State broadcast said.

The State’s monthly revenue allocation from the Federation Account, has fallen “drastically” by over 51 percent, said the Governor.

The Federal Budget had last week been slashed by N1.5 Trillion naira to cope with the over 50% oil price drop.

In adjusting to these changes, “necessary sacrifices” must be made, said Lalong.

“We must brace up for the harsh economic realities and be ready to make necessary sacrifices in the coming weeks and months.

“Many development projects and programmes will have to be reviewed in accordance to the emerging realities.

“The processes of fresh employment; implementation of the new minimum wage; funding of on-going projects among others, will be affected in the interim,” said the Governor.