The Kogi State governorship election is barely days away but the debate over who is to blame for the non-release of the bailout fund meant for the state continues to reverberate, even beyond the state.
Like some states, the Kogi State government grappled with cash crunch such that it could not pay salaries and allowances of civil servants and pensioners. And like his colleagues, the state Governor, Capt. Idris Wada, applied for bailout funds.
The N50.5 billion bailout fund was applied for four months ago. With the application filed, civil servants looked forward to better days ahead.
But with the state’s governorship election on the horizon, the bailout has since been enmeshed in intense politics as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC) continue to trade tackles over why the fund has not been released like for some other states.
As at September 19, out of the 27 states that applied for commercial bank loans to offset salary arrears in their respective states, 18 have received over N222 billion.
The states that have accessed the loan are Abia (N14.15 billion), Kwara (N4.32 billion), Zamfara (N10.02 billion), Osun (N34.98 billion), Niger (N4.31 billion), Bauchi (N8.6 billion), Gombe (N16.46 billion), Adamawa (N2.38 billion), Ondo (N14.69) and Kebbi (N690 million).
Other states are, Ekiti (N9.6 billion), Imo (N26.8 billion), Ebonyi (N4.1 billion), Plateau (N5.4 billion), Nasarawa (N8.3 billion), Sokoto (N10.1 billion), Edo (N3.2 billion) and Oyo (N26.6 billion).
The CBN spokesman, Malam Ibrahim Mu’azu, was quoted as saying that while the apex bank was determined to broker the commercial loan for states, the challenge so far was that states are still sorting out their respective payroll troubles because of the issues of ghost workers.
He said CBN is not giving any state any money, but that it is mediating the transaction between them and banks, as well as ensuring smooth process and effective implementation of the loans’ objectives.
But while civil servants in other states see a ray of hope, those of Kogi State are fast losing confidence in the ability of the state government to secure their interest.
Mindful of the import of such perception ahead of the November 21 polls, the governor accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government of politicizing the bail-out process.
The governor, who spoke through his Chief Communications Manager, Mr Phrank Shaibu, specifically accused the opposition in the state of misleading the federal government, which has caused the non-release of the funds, months after the state filed the necessary documentation.
He said: “We (government) called on President Buhari, as leader for all, not to be swayed by the antics of this desperate politician who is nothing but the author and finisher of the woes of civil servants in Kogi State.
“What kind of desperation will make a man callously and viciously wage war against the release of resources meant for the people of his state?
“The Kogi State government is of the firm view that the bail out fund is only a loan and not a presidential benevolence.
“This matter is not a personality contest between Governor Idris Wada and the APC-led government. It is strictly about constitutionalism and the rule of law. While the state government will always accord the highest respect to the exalted office of the President, it will not compromise a principled stand on the rights of its citizens in the Nigerian Federation, especially when it is being machinated by some desperate politicians from Kogi State for selfish reasons.”
In a swift reaction, head of the media and publicity team of Audu/Faleke campaign organization, Dr. Tom Ohikere, said Governor Idris Wada was deceiving the people of the state, especially the labour unions and others over the circumstances surrounding the bailout fund promised by the Federal Government.
According to him, Wada failed to apply for the loan but lied to the whole world that he had applied but was denied by the CBN and the Federal Government. He also denied that Audu Abubakar was behind the non-release of the fund.
According to Ohikere, Wada had tactically refused to apply for the loan because of the backlog of loans’ arrears the state is already enmeshed in.
But the PDP had queried, “If the Kogi State Government didn’t apply for the bailout fund, how did the CBN publish the name of the state and the approval for N50.8bn?”
Explaining further, Shaibu said, “of a truth, we took advantage of the low interest window that the bailout fund provided and applied for about N80bn to take care of salary arrears of Local Government workers and primary school teachers which stood at N45.8bn and another N5bn for salary arrears for workers in the state civil service while the remainder was meant to cater for the pension and gratuity for all our retirees from when the state was created till date.
“But after we submitted all the documents required by CBN, including but not limited to workers’ payroll, BVN of all members of staff, biometric verification of workers, CBN only approved N50.8bn for salary arrears, leaving out about N29.2bn meant to take care of the pensioners.”
The governor took the complaint further during a campaign tour to Yagba East and West, where he told Oba of Isanlu, Oba Aaron in his palace, that as soon as the bottlenecks against the bailout fund by the opposition was removed, those who were owed would begin to smile again.
He said the money was requested for long ago to settle the backlog of salary and arrears owed by successive governments to workers and pensioners.
The state’s House of Assembly and labour unions have been agitated over the withheld funds also.
The State House of Assembly, under Speaker Momoh-Jimoh Lawal, passed a motion asking the apex bank to urgently release the funds, the leaders of the unions, including the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) had put the issue in perspective.
They had recently ordered their members to stay at home in protest against the delayed release of the funds.
The State President of NULGE, Comrade Thomas Abutu said “many local government workers have died due to non-payment of their salary. Some are owed 18 months, 15 months and 12 months as the case may be.
“The bailout was meant to cushion the effect of the hardship on the Local Government workers.
“If there is anybody who says this bailout should not be released, well, nemesis will catch up with them,” he said
NLC Chairman, Comrade Onu Edoka alleged that a lot of negative assertions have been heaped on organized labour; that it has been bribed to carry out the protests in the state.
“On behalf of organized Labour in Kogi State, I address this press conference on a sad note because those we ordinary assumed to be our statesmen that we thought have the love of workers at heart have decided to slaughter their integrity on the altar of personal interest.
“Organized Labour in Kogi State cannot be bribed to fight for their own rights and nobody can tell us that CBN has not approved N50.8bn for Kogi State.
“We held a press conference where we appealed to CBN to release the bailout to Kogi State workers. We had made several appeals to all known persons concerned, but up till this moment that has not been heeded to.
“We are not enlisted by the ruling party PDP in the state or any other government to protest in the state for payment of the bailout. Rather, we are consciously doing what is legitimate and legal.”
He continued: “Is it the script of anybody that wants to see that Kogi workers continue to die. Most of our workers are actually dying and for that I want this money to be paid.”
The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) Chairman, Comrade Suleiman Abdullahi said, “We are only appealing to Buhari to release the money as we cannot talk to the governor because he is a contestant.
“He (Buhari) should hear our cry except Kogi teachers in Basic Education are not part of this country. If we are his children, we are appealing to him that Kogi teachers are dying as they cannot afford to access drugs or other things. Buhari should prevail on the CBN to release that which is due to Kogi.”
However, the politics of the bailout took a larger dimension as the PDP Governors Forum blasted CBN for being partisan in the allocation of the bailouts.
In a statement in Abuja on Friday, Earl Osaro Onaiwu, Coordinator of PDP Governors Forum, accused CBN of having allowed itself to be dictated to by the ruling APC on which states get the bailout fund despite Kogi having fulfilled all the requirements.
Osaro urged CBN to insulate itself from politics and the control of the ruling party if it does not want to create political and financial crises in the country.
“How come almost all APC states that applied for bailout have got theirs, but states like Kogi that have fulfilled all the requirements have been denied theirs with no explanation from CBN?
“The CBN Governor Emefiele has to insulate the apex bank from the shenanigans of politicians to avoid serious political and economic dislocation in the country.
“It is important and urgent that CBN releases the N50 billion bailout due to Kogi to ease the suffering of the common people in the state,” Osaro stated.
The APC fired back saying that the decision by the Kogi State Government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum to blame political interference for the delay in releasing bailout funds for the state is cheap blackmail.
In a counter-statement in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC said it had no business with the release or otherwise of the bailout funds to Kogi State.
”This accusation is in line with the new-found propensity of PDP to blame everyone but itself for the woes that have befallen the party in recent times. If the opposition party is not accusing APC of colluding with the judiciary over the election petition cases, it is accusing the ruling party of colluding with CBN over bailout funds. This is sickening,” it said.
APC told Kogi State government to go and sort itself out with CBN, if indeed it wanted to get the bailout funds.
The statement further reads: ”Our investigations have revealed that Kogi State Government has not been able to justify the over N50 billion it is asking for as bailout funds. It is curious that the chunk of the funds which the state is asking for, over N40 billion, is for the payment of the salaries of local government workers.
”The state is saying the backlog of salaries owed to these categories of workers dates back to 2011.
“How can that be, when Nigeria was not even broke in 2011? How can the state be owing local government workers when it has been collecting N2.2 billion monthly in allocation for local governments, amounting to over N100 billion in four years? What happened to the local government allocations collected by the state if it is owing LG workers since 2011?
“The figures and explanations tendered by the Kogi State Government to justify the request for N50.8 billion in bailout funds are not tenable, especially because only N4.9 billion of the amount is for the payment of workers in the state civil service.
“Nigerians should bear in mind that the bailout funds are not for anything beyond the payment of workers’ salaries. The onus is therefore on Kogi State Government to justify its request for N50.8 billion, and to assure CBN that the state is not seeing the funds as slush money. It is the failure to do just that, rather than any so-called political interference, that has denied the state government of accessing the funds so far.”
APC reminded the PDP Governors’ Forum, which it said had been quick in jumping into the fray without doing its own due diligence, that the initiative to bail the states out of their inability to pay workers’ salaries was at the instance of the Buhari Administration which was meant to provide much-needed relief to the workers.
”Therefore, it does not make sense for anyone to accuse the ruling party or an agency of the same government of frustrating the release of the funds. Kogi State has no one but itself to blame for the quagmire in which it has found itself over the bailout funds,” the party added.
However, as the back and forth continues, at the core of the debate according to analysts, is mutual suspicion on both sides. While APC fears that the PDP would use the funds as part of the campaign tool or outrightly spend it on their campaigns, PDP believes that APC is bent on establishing an impression of a state government that is incompetent and cannot secure the interest of its workers.
How much impact the debate will affect votes is still a matter of conjecture.
-Leadership