Before the bail out funds are diverted

One of the earliest demands placed before President Muhammadu Buhari, even before he was sworn-in, was a request for financial bailout of states which could not pay their workers’ salaries. It was championed by the governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State.

After initially balking, Buhari got the National Economic Council (ECA), through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMoF), to package a comprehensive bailout fund totalling over 1.2 trillion Naira. The funds were extracted from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), proceeds from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) operations, a CBN special intervention fund and a debt relief package for highly indebted states to enjoy reduced debt service costs.

Anxiety has, however, hung over the fate of the bailout package, which no fewer than sixteen highly indebted states will draw down to offset the many months of unpaid salaries of their workers. As the money starts making its way to the various state coffers, it stands the risk of being hijacked.

For instance, some banks have reportedly seized some of the money because some of the states have been defaulting on huge loans they collected from these banks.

Governors who have not paid the workers in their states were seen with their family members trailing President Buhari in his recent state visit to President Barack Obama in the United States of America as if they were VIP tourists. Some of the indebted state governors have been erecting frivolous billboards, while others have embarked on massive contract awards to gain the applause and legitimacy among the populace after coming to power through questionable mandates.

We reiterate the need for the bailout funds to be spent specifically on the purposes for which they were packaged by the president: the payment of the salary arrears of public sector workers, especially teachers and civil servants.

We urge the various state governments to sit down and discuss with their banks on the modalities for repaying their loans and allow the bailout funds to be used for the payment of salary arrears to enable workers to face their work and allow the engine of governance to function effectively.

The president should live up to his promise to monitor the governors to ensure that these funds are not put to wrong use. The various State Houses of Assembly must wake up to their oversight duties and ensure that governors who fritter away the relief funds are brought to account according to the law.

All eyes must come on board to ensure that the bailouts are not diverted under any guise, as there may be no opportunity for another bailout.