Worried by
accumulated salaries nationwide, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved
the release of N713.7billion intervention funds for states.
The bail-out was
part of a three-pronged relief package that will end the workers plight.
While
N413.7billion represents special intervention funds, the balance of about
N250billion to N300billion is a soft loan to states.
Also,
N413.7billion ($2.1billion) is sourced from the recent Liquefied Natural Gas
proceeds and the remaining N300billion is a Central Bank-packaged special
intervention fund.
The Debt
Management Office (DMO) is expected to assist states to restructure over
N660billion commercial loans crippling their economy.
With the
development, President Buhari has stopped deduction of monthly allocations to
states at source.
Instead, the
Federal Government will “use its influence to guarantee the elongation of the
loans for the benefit of the states.”
But the
beneficiaries of the relief package include workers in Federal Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who have remained unpaid for several months.
According to
informed sources, the President took the decision to boost purchasing power of
Nigerians, especially average and low-income earners, and to reflate the
economy.
The sources said:
“In his resolve to put an end to the lingering crisis of unpaid workers’
salaries in the country especially in several states of the federation,
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a comprehensive relief package designed
to save the situation.
“Specifically,
the President has okayed a three-pronged relief package that will end the
workers plight.
These are: The
sharing of about $2.1billion (N413.7billion) in fresh allocation between the
states and the federal government. The money is sourced from recent LNG
proceeds to the federation account, and its release okayed by the President.
* A Central
Bank-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the
states, ranging from between N250bIllion to N300billion. This would be a soft
loan available to states to access for the purposes of paying backlog of
salaries.
*A debt relief
program proposed by the Debt Management Office, DMO, which will help states
restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660billion, and
extend the life span of such loans while reducing their debt-servicing
expenditures.
When contacted
the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina,
confirmed that indeed a special package was on the way for the workers.
He added that the
President is deeply concerned about the plight of the workers who have been
unpaid for many months.
During the
inauguration of NEC last week, President Buhari asked the Council, which is a
constitutional advisory body to him, to, as a matter of priority consider how
to “liquidate the unpaid salaries of workers across the country, a situation he
observed has brought untold hardship to the workers.”
“At the NEC
meeting, the relief measures were extensively discussed between the state
governors and top officials of the federal government including the CBN
governor, and the Permanent Secretaries from Ministries of Finance and
Petroleum Resources. Other agencies that were actively involved in the process
include the DMO and officials from the Office of the Accountant-General of the
Federation.”
Media reports
last month indicated that about 12 of the 36 states of the federation owed
their workers about N110b
They are Osun, Rivers,
Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Ondo, Plateau, Benue, and Bauchi States.
However, informed
sources said the Finance Ministry and the CBN may have pegged the amount needed
to settle all the outstanding public workers salaries at about N250b.
-The Nation