Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has admitted that his government has failed in its responsibility of paying the salaries of its workers.

Ortom made the submission on Monday in Makurdi, the state capital shortly after meeting with national leaders of organized labour but added that the factors responsible for the failure were beyond the state.

“A worker deserves his wages, but the Benue government has not been able to fulfill that obligation. We have failed the workers in this regard.

“Government is worried by its inability to pay workers and has constituted a Joint Technical Committee, comprising civil servants and government officials to look into the issues surrounding the inability to pay salaries.

“The committee will also work toward bringing down Benue’s high wage bill of N7.8billion,” Ortom said.

Also addressing journalists after the meeting, the National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba said the Benue state government has made some offers  to address the industrial action recently embarked upon by the state workers.