Alex Otti, the governor of Abia State, has addressed some persistent questions about deductions made from the pay of certain state employees.<\/p>\n
Otti clarified the matter at the Government House in Umuahia on Friday evening during his regular monthly meeting with news reporters.<\/p>\n
He said that in response to complaints from certain civil servants regarding salary deductions, the government had looked into the matter.<\/p>\n
According to Otti, the investigation showed that the reason for the discrepancy was the switch from the 2018\u20132019 tax rate to the current tax rate when deducting taxes from salaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people who felt their salaries were being reduced, when we investigated those complaints, we found that what actually happened was that before now an old tax rate was being applied.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe 2018\/2019 tax rate was being applied and there was a 2021\/2022 tax law, which of course, has come into effect.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI find it difficult to accept that somebody is pinching salaries, then how do you even do it, because the money leaves the account of the state and hits the account of the beneficiary?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo, at what point would somebody deduct the salaries, and if you deduct, where do you take it to?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The governor also said that the government had investigated the complaint about salary disparity in some Local Government Areas of the state and \u201cwe found that it is not true\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Otti also attributed the development to tax deductions, using the current rate.<\/span><\/p>\n He said that the government had evolved a policy that allows the payment of overtime allowance to a civil servant that performs \u201covertime duties\u201d, based on the request of the government.<\/span><\/p>\n He said, \u201cIf you were getting paid overtime and you were getting some overtime, now the government says you are not supposed to work overtime.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cExcept if there is a need for that and it is the government that would ask you to do that.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think that is what people are mistaking for salary being deducted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n On minimum wage, Otti said that the government had set up a committee to look into the issue as it awaited more clarifications from the Federal Government on the matter.<\/span><\/p>\n He said: \u201cYou know the minimum wage announcement was just about the minimum wage of N70,000.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat that means is that every other person\u2019s salary would go up.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo, it is not just going to be minimum wage for civil servants every other salary would be adjusted accordingly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n According to him, the government and the Nigerian Labour Congress are already interfacing to work out a solution that would be practicable and within the state\u2019s meagre resources.<\/span><\/p>\n Otti said that the government had placed the issue of the new minimum wage on the front burner.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs we even prepare for a review of the budget after the virement, we are already making provisions for increase of salaries on the basis of the new minimum wage,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n The governor also discussed how the people in Abia received their fair share of the rice trucks that belonged to the federal government.<\/p>\n According to him, the government decided to distribute the palliative among the most impoverished members of society as well as employees at the bottom of the civil service hierarchy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alex Otti, the governor of Abia State, has addressed some persistent questions about deductions made from the pay of certain state employees. Otti clarified the matter at the Government House in Umuahia on Friday evening during his regular monthly meeting with news reporters. He said that in response to complaints from certain civil servants regarding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-142454","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-nation"},"yoast_head":"\n