N5.7b second Paris Club tranche inadequate, says ABSG
Abia State government says it received the sum of N5.7 bilion only as its share of the 2nd tranche of the Paris Club refund from the Federal Government.
However, the government said the amount is not enough to solve its problems especially over salary debts. The state government however noted that it was expecting over N12 billions as its share of the refund.
The Commissioner for Finance, Obinna Oriaku, who disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting of leadership of the organised labour with the Governor, said this development has put the state in a difficult situation especially when the Governor had earlier promised to clear arrears of salaries and pensions owed Abia workers by the end of this month.
According to him, Abia State was expecting between N12 to N14 billion and regretted that the N5.7 billion cannot take care of all the outstanding debts owed workers.
He, however, assured that the state is still committed to clearing the outstanding arrears of salaries and pensions owed Abia workers whether bailout or not.
According to Oriaku, in the present circumstance, those parastatals owed more months will be given more attention as MDAs are owed only one month, adding that the highest state received about N6 billion.
Also, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Uchenna Obigwe, said the development is worrisome as there is a lot of indebtedness not caused by the present government. He said that they will brainstorm to ensure that workers’ salaries and pensions are addressed.
