The Kogi state governor, Idris
Wada, has claimed that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in
collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is delaying the bailout fund
of the state despite being one of the first states to apply with full
documentation for the federal government’s bailout fund.
He further claimed that the delay is connected to the
forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state.
In an interview with journalists, including Naij.com’s
correspondent in his office in Lokoja on Saturday, Governor Wada denied owing
civil servants’ salaries.
He explained that the state only owes local government
workers and explained that this was due to the increased minimum wage bill
introduced by the federal government, adding that the APC leaders in the state
and national level are acting without the orders of the president.
Governor Idris
Wada of Kogi state
Delay in bailout funds
“When the FG brought out this bailout package, they
said states can apply to pay over 20 years period at 9% interest rate, this has
never happened in Nigeria before to the best of my knowledge. We aggregated all
our exposure in the outstanding percentage payment to our local government
workers and teachers and applied for this bailout to clean it all out and give
confidence that it is because the money coming was not enough, that is why we
could not pay them their full salaries.
“Kogi state was one of the first states to apply with
complete documentation but many states that applied after us, some of them even
copied our presentation, they have been given. I have gone to see the CBN
governor three times and I have met the president to complain that why are we
being delayed.
“These liabilities are things I inherited, some of
them have existed since the creation of Kogi state but when this window was
opened, the sensible thing to do is to use it to clean up all these liabilities
and move forward without the liabilities, that was our intention.
“We applied and supplied all the documentation. The
CBN approved and advertised the entire amount they have approved for all
states. They said they approved 50.8 billion naira for Kogi state, which
includes 4.9 billion naira for our civil servants, about 23 billion naira for
LG employees and about 21 billion naira for our teachers. That was what they
approved and they advertised it in the newspapers.
“They didn’t
call us to say this is what they have approved, we saw it in the newspapers and
online. They started releasing to various states and didn’t release to us. So I
went to ask the CBN governor that what is going on, why are you holding on to
our money, he said they will soon get to us.
“At a critical meeting, he committed that ‘within the
following week’, they were going to release the money but up till now they have
not.
“The next thing we know is for the APC governorship
candidate in the state to be boasting in his campaign that they will not
release the money until he becomes governor of the state that he is going to
win the next election and that APC is in charge of the Federal government that
they have blocked the release of the money to Kogi state.
“This is shocking because this country belongs to all
of us, whether you are APC or PDP, the interest of the people is why we came to
public service. So if you say you want to be governor of a state why will you
block what will improve the lives of the workers of the state?
“It will improve the economy because everybody that
receives salary will buy one thing or the other and that is how the money
circulates to improve lives of the people.
“Right now I have done everything I can which includes
seeing the president who said he has no problem authorizing the release of the
money but why the CBN governor has refused to release the money is what I don’t
know. They asked us to bring biometric of the teachers and local government
employees, we have done it because we have done biometric in the state.
“They asked us
to bring BVN verification of these people; we collected those that have done
because the time frame for BVN registration has not elapsed. We wrote a
circular to our employees and unions that make sure your members get their BVN
before they can get the money.
“I challenge CBN, which other state did they put through
this type of process? This is injustice, it is unfair. It is political and
unfortunate because how long are we in the APC’s government to see something
like this.
“Nobody has taken the trouble that I have taken to get
these monies for our state. This is money that cannot be mismanaged or
misappropriated because the names of people, with the amount due to them, their
account number and their BVN are there, with biometric verification. So how can
you take out of the money except someone willingly gives you his or her own
money.
“So why this is being politicized is unfortunate
because I am confident it is not the intention of Mr President. The clear
intent of President Buhari was to help Nigerian workers so I don’t want anybody
to drag him to it. This mischief is between some APC leaders, especially in
Kogi and the CBN governor, who should explain to Nigerians why he is holding
the money due to Kogi state.
“Honourably, the CBN governor should come out and tell
the world what we have done wrong so that we can correct it, we are not
infallible but when you put us through to the mill and we have complied,
release the money and let the workers move on but to tie it to election is bad
for the democracy of this country.
“I challenge anyone to come out with anything else.
That is the true position of the bailout issue in Kogi state,” the governor explained to
journalists.
Explaining further, Wada said he does not interfere in
the affairs of the local governments in the state.
He said: “The state
government has no interference in this, particularly in Kogi state here, we
have total autonomy for the operation of our LG system, I do not interfere.
There is a joint allocation meeting chaired by the commissioner but the key
members are the LG chairmen.”
Source:
Naij.com
, in collaboration with the Central Bank of...){kind=link}
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