The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, on Tuesday said lack of funds was a major factor delaying the creation of local council development areas in the state.

This is just as he lamented that money was also responsible for his inability to pay the full salaries of workers.

The governor said this when the Jegun of Ile-Oluji, Oba Julius Adetimehin, and his chiefs paid him a courtesy visit.

The governor said, “In no distant future, I want to give you an assurance that Oluji will become a local government area on its own. We are working on it.

“One of the issues dragging us back is finance. The process is cumbersome but it is one that only availability of money can oil. We will need to put up a council secretariat for the people.

“In your own case, the present local government headquarters is in Ile-Oluji. Oke-Igbo will have to put up a council secretariat, and all of these require money.

The governor lamented the inability of the state to pay the full salaries of its workers.

He said, “We came here, boasting that we won’t owe salaries; we weren’t owing. We were even paying arrears. But now, it is disheartening, we owe salaries.

“We don’t wish to owe salaries, but there is no money. What we receive from FAAC is what we use to pay these salaries.”