President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday lamented that despite the various interventions by the Federal Government, there were still complaints and agita
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday lamented that despite the various interventions by the Federal Government, there were still complaints and agitations by workers over unpaid salaries and allowances by governors of some state. He wondered how the unpaid workers had been managing to meet their needs. Buhari made his position known while addressing a delegation of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, led by the forum’s chairman, Abdulaziz Yari, when they visited him in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Yari had led Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State, representing the South-South; Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, representing the North-West; Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, representing the North-Central; Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Eric Igwe, representing the South-East; Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State, representing the North-East; and Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, representing the South-West, to a meeting with the President. During the meeting the governors, through Yari, requested that the President ensure the release of the 50 per cent of the Paris Club loan refund so that the funds could be built into the 2018 budgets of the state governments.
The various interventions the current administration had extended to states included bailouts, Paris Club loan refund and budget support. Some governors were alleged to have diverted part of the bailouts.
The President told the governors that the plight of workers in the states needed urgent attention as many could barely survive.
“How can anyone go to bed and sleep soundly when workers have not been paid their salaries for months. I actually wonder how the workers feed their families, pay their rents and even pay school fees of their children,” he said.
Buhari told the governors that the challenge in payment of salaries in states had taken a toll on the people. He said the Federal Government and governors would need to work together to ameliorate the situation of workers across the country.
Governor Yari in defence of his colleagues said the various interventions by the Federal Government, which include the bailouts, were judiciously utilised by the states. He stressed that the governors inherited backlog of unpaid salaries and huge debt portfolios on assumption of office. Yari noted that the bailouts, and part of the fallout from the London-Paris Club refund that had been received by the states, were properly expended to alleviate the plight of workers, but more had to be done.
Speaking to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting which lasted about two hours, Yari said the governors were in the Villa to thank the President for the previous bailouts as well as the Paris Club refund, which he said has helped them in meeting the obligations of their states, adding that he hoped that both the Debt Management Office, Ministry of Finance, Attorney General of the Federation, could factor the numbers into the 2018 budget, so that they can use it for projects and other recurrent spending according to the specification given by their respective Houses of Assembly.
