There was tension in many states in the country yesterday over some state government’s failure to defray several months of workers’ salaries even after receiving billions of naira as bailout funds from the Federal Government.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offenses Commission, (ICPC), had disclosed that about 27 states received humongous amount of money from the Federal Government as bailout funds, whereas some of them either failed to clear arrears of workers’ salaries or diverted same to other accounts.
The ICPC report stated that while Adamawa had outstanding staff salaries and emoluments of N9,578,360,000.00 and received N9,578,360,000.00 as bailout fund, it only disbursed N2,378,360,000.00, leaving a balance of N7,200,000.00 from the money collected. Similarly, Bauchi, which has a debt profile accruing from staff salaries and emoluments of N14.8billion, for which it received N8.6billion as bailout fund, disbursed N8.4billion with a balance of N195,011,616.74.
The state claimed not to owe salaries as at September 2015. Benue, with total debt of N12,503, 439,787.48, received N12,503,439,787.48 as bailout fund. It disbursed N10,852,536,702.96 with a balance of N1,650,903,084.52. Analysis of the documents submitted revealed a double payment of N37,760,000.00 in favour of the office of the Deputy Governor.
This double payment is presently being investigated. “Cross River State is yet to submit her actual debt profile. The state received N7,856,400,000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N3,140,883,040.77, leaving a balance of N4,715,516,959.23.
However, the state claimed not to have outstanding salaries to workers as at 19/11/2015,” the report said. Ekiti State’s total debt accrued from staff salaries and emoluments of N3,000,266,146.64 The state received N9,604,340,000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N9,213,816,252.55 with a balance of N390,613,747.56.
The state owed one month salary as at October 28, 2015. Imo State is said to have diverted the N26 billion it collected into a nonsalary account, while Osun State, which received N34,988,990,000.00 bailout fund, only disbursed N18,677,244,582.20 leaving a balance of N16,311,765,418 billion as at November 2015.
The Commission is currently verifying allegations that Osun State public servants have only been paid salaries up to July 2015. The disclosure sparked a lot of tension in Osun, Benue, Imo and other states yesterday.
The Osun State chapter of the PDP said it had been vindicated by the ICPC report which categorically indicted the state government for “squandering the N34.9 billion bailout funds.” PDP said further that a comprehensive analysis carried out by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in conjunction with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), had revealed that Osun is among the states that deliberately lied that they were owing their workers huge debts when the reverse was the case but still did not pay their workers when the money was released to them by the Federal Government.
However, the Chairman of the Osun State Chapter of the NLC, Comrade Jacob Adekomi, said that workers have received their take home pay up till January 2016, in line with the disbursed allocation from the Federal Government, adding that the union has been monitoring payments.
In Benue State, politicians across various political divides expressed worries over the payment of N10billion out of the N12billion received for the payment of workers’ salaries, and condemned the diversion of N2billion and over N70 million with the latter mysteriously paid into the bank account of the office of state Deputy Governor.
A PDP chieftain, John Ikyenge, called on the deputy governor to resign. Governor Samuel Ortom, who was on President Buhari’s delegation to China, has not returned to the country as the allegation continued to generate controversy in the state.
But in a swift reaction to the allegation, the state government denied diverting the said amount of money, explaining that the quoted amount of N37, 760, 000 million is the statutory sum paid monthly to Lobi Stars Football Club of Makurdi, which is owned by the Benue State Government.
The Commissioner of Finance, Mr. David Olofu, in a statement defending the allegation, released to journalists in Makurdi, insisted that what the antigraft agency described as “double payment in favour of the office of the Deputy Governor” was actually two months’ payment made to the football club through the office of the Deputy Governor (who is chairman of the club) as is usually the case over the years.
Commissioner for Information in Imo State, Chidi Ibeh, also dismissed the alleged diversion of bailout as rumours emanating from the opposition. “The bailout was judiciously used for what it was meant. Recall that as at last December, no single worker in the state was being owed, even the moribund agencies. So it is cheap blackmail to suggest that the bailout was diverted,” he said.
Enugu State Government, on its part, said it only received N4.2 billion from the Federal Government as bailout fund for the settlement of outstanding salaries, subventions and pensions for public servants in the state. In a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Elder G.O.C Ajah, the state said that when the bailout fund was received, “a dedicated bank account was opened for the fund and a committee comprising leaders of organised labour in the state, representatives of the state government and pensioners, was setup by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, to oversee the disbursement of the fund.” Contacted for clarification on the report, ICPC spokesman, Mr. Folu Olamiti, failed to answer his calls, neither did he respond to text messages.
