Bailout fund: My books are open to EFCC, ICPC, others, says Benue Gov

The Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, on Tuesday said that operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), are free to come and check the financial books of his State, pointing out that he has nothing to hide.

Gov. Ortom threw the challenge against the backdrop of allegation by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), that some state governors have misappropriated the bailout fund released to the by the Federal government to help them pay salaries arrears among others.

This is even as the povernor revealed that he has succeeded in bringing the monthly salary wage bill of the workers in Benue from N8.5 billion to N7billion after series of screening exercise.

Dr. Ortom, who said these when he spoke with Journalists in Abuja, the nation’
capital, also appealed to wealthy individuals, corporate organizations and other well wishers to come to the aid of Benue State, which has been ravaged lately by flood that affected twenty-one out of the twenty-three local government areas in the State.

The Governor categorically declared that the havoc wreaked by the flood disaster in Benue was far beyond the capacity of the state alone to deal with.

The flood disaster, among others, displaced several inhabitants from their settlements as well as watched away numerous roads and bridges in the state.

The Governor disclosed that about N50 million has been spent so far by the state government in rehabilitating some of the affected persons.

Giving insight into the finances of the State and how they have been managed so far, Dr. Ortom said, “When I came in, I inherited N69 billion arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities. The federal government did intervene by giving us a loan, which some people called bailout, of N28 billion. We appropriated it very well because of the screening approach that we adopted.

“Out of the N12.5 billion that was allocated to the state service, we were able to save up to N1.6billion, which we injected back to the treasury. And at the local government level, we adopted a screening method that was able to block the leakages and loopholes and then we removed all the paddings and all that.

“So, we were able to save up to N1.4billion out of the N15.5 billion that we received. Up till today, as I talk to you, the money is in Fidelity bank account, though it is ganached by the court because of Tarakumis who were owed up to a billion naira. So, they went to court and secured a ganache order, so that money is still there in the account.

“When I hear people talking about misappropriating the bailout find, I say they are not fair to me. Whosoever talks about it should go to our books and check. “At least, we are transparent and the EFCC or ICPC are free to come and check our account and i challenge anybody who doubts it to go to our books and we are ready to make it available.

“So, no single kobo was diverted from the bailout account. I am making that comment because of the recent outburst of Labour leaders, who have included Benue in the misappropriation of the bail out.

“Benue state bailout was not misappropriated. We are accountable and we are ready to dish out whatever information that people may need,” he said.

The Governor explained that the reason why Benue is currently having arrears of sim months at the state level and nine months at the local government level is because of the short fall .

His words, “When I came in, I inherited a wage bill of N8.2 billion. This excluded teachers minimum wage. When we came in, we decided that teachers should not be having different salaries from the other categories of workers. So, we said they too should be paid the same minimum wage and it went to N8.5 billion. “Meanwhile, what we have been getting at the state from the federation account, on average, is about N6billion. So, we have a wage bill of N8.5 billion and we are getting N6 billion.

“We went through various stages of screening, biometrics and all that. Currently, we are doing a modified table payment; we are sacking ghost workers and blocking some of those leakages that were existing. We were able to reduce this wage bill to N7.8 billion, that is where we are now”, he said.

The Governor harped on the need for those agitating for restructuring and others in the country to be law abiding in the way they go about it, reminding them that “we have no other country order than Nigeria.”

Dr. Ortom equally tasked the nation’s security agencies to live up to expectation by ensuring that impunity does not continue to prevail over the country as being currently witnessed.

His words, “Law enforcement agencies are responsible for ensuring that those who err or who trespass the law are sanctioned. They should live up to expectation that is the only way we can move forward in this country.”