Unpaid salaries: Uproar as Buhari says 36 states received N1,642trn

Govs signed undertaking but not true to their words – NLC

‘With devolution of power, non-performing governors will be voted out’.

Ganiyu Obaaro, Joy Ekeke, Lagos and Augustine Okezie and Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari’s broadcast on Sunday, October 1, to mark the Nigeria’s 57 Independence anniversary may have come and gone, but the ripple effects it has left behind may continue to be an important national discourse in days to come.

Among other critical aspects of the broadcast was the President’s disclosure that his administration has disbursed a whopping N1.642 trillion to the 36 states in 2 years and four months.

Buhari listed the processes of the funds’ disbursement to the 36 states and 774 local government areas as follow: State Excess Crude Account loans, Budget Support Facility, Stabilisation Fund Release – N200billion in 2015; N441billion in 2016, and N1trillion in 2017. According to the President, altogether, these funds totaled N1.642trillion.

He said the Federal Government’s action was hinged on the consideration that would enable the “states to pay outstanding salaries, pensions and small business suppliers who had been all but crippled over the years.”

He said: “With respect to the economy, the Government has remained pro-active in its diversification policy.

The Federal Government’s agricultural Anchor Borrowers Programme, which I launched in November 2015, has been an outstanding success with N43.92billion released through the CBN and 13 participating institutions; 200,000 small holder farmers from 29 states of the federation benefitting; 233,000 hectares of farmland cultivating eight commodities, namely, rice, wheat, maize, cotton, soya-beans, poultry, cassava and Groundnuts, in addition to fish farming.

“These initiatives have been undertaken in close collaboration with the states. I wish to commend the efforts of the Governors of Kebbi, Lagos, Ebonyi and Jigawa states for their support to the rice and fertilizer revolutions.

“Equally commendable are the contributions of the governors of Ondo, Edo, Delta, Imo, Cross River, Benue, Ogun, Kaduna and Plateau states for their support for the Presidential initiative for palm oil, rubber, cashew, cassava, potatoes and other crops.”

While sounding optimistic of a bumper harvest in the new cropping season, Buhari said that “with the abundance of rainfall last year and this year, agriculture has enjoyed Divine intervention.”

The President also said that, since December last year, “this administration has produced over 7 million 50Kg bags of fertilizer. Eleven blending plants with a capacity of 2.1 million metric tons have been reactivated. We have saved $150 million in foreign exchange and N60 billion in subsidy.

Fertilizer prices have dropped from N13, 000 per 50Kg bag to N5, 500. “Furthermore, a new presidential initiative is starting with each state of the Federation creating a minimum of 10,000 jobs for unemployed youths, again with the aid of CBN’s development finance initiatives.”

Buhari also admitted that his administration was facing some challenges, but said they were being addressed: “Power remains a huge problem. As of September 12th, production of power reached an all-time high of 7,001 Megawatts. Government is increasing its investment, clearing up the operational and financial logjam bedeviling the industry.

We hope to reach 10,000 Megawatts by 2020. “Key priorities include better energy mix through solar and Hydro technologies. I am glad to say that after many years of limbo, Mambilla Power Project has taken off.”

He said the government has made moves to address macro/microeconomic challenges facing the economy.

“Elsewhere in the economy, the special window created for manufacturers, investors and exporters, foreign exchange requirements has proved very effective. Since April, about $7bn has come through this window alone. The main effect of these policies is improved confidence in the economy and better investment sentiments.

“The country has recorded 7 consecutive months of lower inflation, Naira rate is beginning to stabilise, appreciating from N525 per $1 in February this year to N360 today. Broad-based economic growth is leading us out of recession.”

As parts of the ongoing efforts to stabilise the economy, Buhari said that, “In addition, the government’s current N500bn Special Intervention Programme is targeting groups through Home Grown School Feeding Programme, N-Power Job creation to provide loans to small-scale traders and artisans, Conditional Cash Transfer, Family Homes Fund and Social Housing Scheme.”

But uproar has begun greeting the President’s speech, especially as it concerns the huge funds disbursed to the states. Among those who have raised questions for the state governors and local government managers to answer is the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

In an interview with one of our correspondents, the NLC, while reacting to Federal Government’s claim, said that, “the governors signed an undertaking that they will fully utilise the monies released over the years, but evidently, they are not true to their word.

According to the Secretary General, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Dr. Peter Ozo-Esan: “It is very true that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration released resources to state governors to meet up the wages and emolument of its workers and pensioners. It is unfortunate that some states, after receiving those monies, have not applied them properly or transparently. They continue to owe backlog of salaries and pensions.”

He said, labour leaders, including the NLC have “embarked on several struggles to compel the state governors to pay the people they owe. Most recently, we were in Makurdi, Benue State capital, to continue the struggle.

The state is one of the worst states owing workers’ salaries. The government owes civil servants 7 months, local government workers and teachers are owed 11 months; and pensioners 13 months”.

‘The state chapter of NLC has issued the state government a warning strike notice; and we, at the central, have thrown our full support; and we are ready to provide them with whatever they want.” He said although, not all the 36 states have defaulted in payment of salaries and pensions, as some have utilised the funds to address workers’ plight, however, he disclosed that, “From state to state, we have had different struggles.

Zamfara State just concluded two weeks of strike; and at the end, the government now came to an understanding on how to release resources; these are what needed to be done; and we encouraged our state councils to engage effectively and when necessary, we are ready to come to their aid to prosecute the struggles.”

The union scribe added that, “Even in Imo, Oyo states and all over the place, we are in a continuous struggle to ensure that workers are paid.” He said: “We have data and statistics of states that owe; and those that do not owe; and the amount released so far to them. We released only recently, every state, those owing and those not owing. “So far, there are 10 states that have problems out of the 36 states, including the FCT. The 10 states owing are of different degrees and amounts, while other states are up to date.”

Meanwhile, former Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Hajia Zainab Suleiman Okino, has wondered why the governors are not being questioned and subjected to fiscal scrutiny or made to account for their shortcomings on why they have collected so much and given out so little.

She said: ‘’So states have received a total of N1.642 trillion in form of bailout, according to President Buhari in his October 1 broadcast, specifically to enable them “pay outstanding salaries, pensions and small business suppliers”, yet governors are owing the same set of people the money was meant for? ‘’And no one is asking questions including the president who authorised the payment. Governors are dictators; they wield so many powers, and because they have immunity, impunity is their second nature’’. ‘’We can’t continue this way.

It is the more reason why we should devolve powers in whatever form-restructuring, true federalism or resource control. The current arrangement is simply not working, and can at best lead us to implosion’’.

Former Special Assistant to FCT Minister, Mr Nosike Ogbuehi, while reacting on the inability of the governors to pay up backlog of their states salary arrears, opted for restructuring or true federalism as the solution to’’ Nigeria’s embarrassing stagnation and decay’’.

He said: ’’If you devolve the resources and power to the states, nonperforming governors will be exposed and voted out’’. Also speaking, a 1987 Economics graduate of ABU, Zaria, Mohammed Omuya, noted that a restructured arrangement that promotes equity, transparency and fairness, will address these short comings. He said, “Since there are little or no means of checking the excesses of governors, restructuring, and devolution of power are inevitable’’.

Also in his reaction, the Assistant Director News, FRCN, Adeiza Momoh Jimoh, regretted the declining influenceof the legislative impact of state Houses of Assembly, who regrettably have turned stooges of state governors, saying an active legislature would have been able to checkmate the excesses of these governors.

He said: “The Houses of Assembly that would have served as checks on the governors have become the proverbial bull dogs that can only bark and not bite.

In most cases, they have ceased barking as some who attempted to bark had their leadership disgraced out of office’’. Giving an overview of the salary situations across the states, Secretary-General of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Bashir Alade Lawal, said that some states were still defaulting in payment, in spite of the huge bailout received from the Federal Government. “They are only paying net, not gross.

So, if you have paid net and you have not paid all deductions, you have not paid full salaries. As at today, Anambra is not owing, likewise Borno, Delta, Edo, Ebonyi, Cross River, Rivers, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, and Sokoto. Anywhere in the world, you pay workers’ salaries first before doing anything else.”