President Muhammadu Buhari has called on state governors to use at
least 25 per cent of the refunds made to them from excess deductions for
external debt service of Nigeria’s Paris Club debt to clear outstanding
workers’ entitlements.
A statement by his media aide, Mr. Garba Shehu revealed that the
president approved N552.74bn to be paid in batches to all the states,
which were entitled to the refund.
They are, however, expected to get 25 per cent of their approved sums
in the first instance before this week ends. About 33 states are
affected.
Shehu said that the refunds arose from claims by the states that they
had been overcharged in deductions for external debt service between
1995 and 2002.
He said, in a directive through the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi
Adeosun, the president said the issue of workers’ benefits, particularly
salaries and pensions, must not be allowed to continue and should be
handled with urgency.
The statement read: “When he assumed office last year, the president
declared an emergency on unpaid salaries, following the discovery that
27 out of the 36 states had fallen behind in payments to their workers,
in some cases for up to a year.
“Following this, a bailout loan was issued to the states twice, with a
first batch of about N300 billion given to them in 2015 in the form of
soft loans.
“The administration also got the Debt Management Office to
restructure their commercial loans of over N660 billion and extended the
life span of the loans.
“Because this did not succeed in pulling many of the states out of
distress, the federal government this year gave out a further N90
billion to 22 states as yet another bailout under very stringent
conditions.
“President Buhari is of the opinion that the payment of salaries and
pensions must be given priority to save both serving and retired workers
and their families from distress.”
A recent report by BudgIT showed that of the 36 states in the
country, only Lagos, Rivers and Enugu, were capable of meeting their
obligation to their workers.
Credit: thisdaylive