By Bayo Oluwasanmi
Everyone knows the State
governments are bankrupt and have been for many years. Given their financial
conditions coupled with the governors' working fever pitch to exacerbate the
situation, the State governments are facing a completely impossible and
irremediable situation.
I'm not trying to scare anyone; I'm
not a gloom-and-doomer. I'm also going to give you solutions to the purely
financial problems – albeit with some good news and bad news. The good news is,
there actually are solutions. The bad news is that there is a zero chance that
my solutions are put into effect. The problems are one hundred per cent caused
by the governors, not by the recession, not by dwindling oil revenues, and not
by slashed allocation from Abuja. There is destruction, violence, poverty,
hunger, anger, disease, killings, kidnappings, abductions, and insecurity all
over the States. The law has become paralyzed. There is no justice in the
courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous.
I'm not a fan of the former
Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzo Kalu. But I believe he spoke the minds and
conviction of a majority of Nigerians about the prodigality and profligacy of
state governors. He attributed the inability of State governors to pay workers'
salaries to what he described as propensity to squander public funds on
personal luxury.
Speaking to State House
correspondents in May while leading a delegation of investors in the power
sector to a meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential
Villa, Abuja, he said some governors claim as much as N35 million as traveling
allowance on one trip. “These governors have enough funds to work for their
people because if you check, the money drawn as security votes is excessive.
They should stop that,” says Kalu. “Unless they stop drawing security votes,”
Kalu warns, “they will not have enough funds to work with and most of them are
living in absolute luxury. So it is impossible to continue living in this
manner,” says Kalu. “Most of the governors,” Kalu reveals, “are even living in
Abuja now. They don't live in their States. Honestly, if you look at the books
very well, for a trip they make, they will take a traveling allowance of N35
million,” continues Kalu. “What are you going to do with that?” queries Kalu.
“So, how are we going to progress? Asks Kalu. “Let them sit down and do the job
they are elected for,” says Kalu.
The governors of these bankrupt
States would want Nigerians to believe their States are broke. In a statewide
broadcast, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State said, “I want to thank you
for your patience, endurance so far in the face of this strike and our
financial challenges … What I don't have (money), I can't give. Ekiti State is
broke. His Ondo State counterpart, Governor Olusegun Mimiko addressing
protesting workers over the nonpayment of salaries for months, he said: “So, we
can no longer pay salaries, even when they are due.... buckle up for a
financial crash, as the State is broke,” Mimiko tells the disgruntled, hungry,
and angry workers.
The States are broke because of the
astronomical salaries, security votes, benefits, and the illegal unrestricted
access of the governors to plunder the treasury. Effective July 1, 2009, the
Remuneration Package for Political, Public, and Judicial office holders
prepared by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC),
a State governor earns an annual salary of N11, 540,896. The RMAFC package does
not set a limit to the amount of estacode (allowance in foreign currencies for
foreign trips) governors can take from State coffers. It also fails to specify
the amount to be collected as Duty Tour Allowance for local trips which could
be as high as N35 million on one trip. The provisions of the regulations simply
said the estacode and Duty Tour Allowance would be provided upon request by
governors. The States also bear the medical expenses of governors. Any
governor who successfully completes his tenure receives a N6, 671,115
severance gratuity.
Another way the governors deplete
State funds is by receiving double money from government. Twenty one governors
receive double money from government. Former governors who are senators are
receiving pension payments from their State governments and are also drawing
salaries from public purse as serving senators. The former governors now
senators are: Bukola Abiku Mesujamba Saraki (Kwara), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso
(Kano), Kabiru Gaya (Kano), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Theodore Orji (Abia),
Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa), Sam Egwu (Ebonyi), Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara), Joshua
Dariye( Plateau), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko (Sokoto),
Ahmed Sani Yarima ( Zamfara), Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe),
Adamu Aliero (Kebbi), George Akume (Benue), and Isiaka Adeleke (Osun).
The non-payment of salaries is
taking a high toll on workers. In Igede-Ekiti, Ekiti State, a high school
teacher who had not been paid for months stole a pot of amala (yam flour meal)
from his neighbor in order to feed his two sons. In Ibadan, Oyo State, Nasiru
Lukman, a teacher at Saint Luke's Grammar School, Molete, slumped while
teaching in the classroom because of hunger. The vice principal of the same
school, Emmanuel Olajide, reportedly died as a result of hunger “apparently due
to non-payment of four months salary by the State government.” In Akure, Ondo
State, a Director General of a State agency had to borrow N500 to buy food for
his family. In Nasarawa State, all the medical doctors are on strike for
non-payment of salaries. Doctors at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH)
have gone on strike. Same story in other States.
The situation should not be allowed
to continue. It is time for the federal government to step in and put
delinquent States into receivership. Receivership means a receiver appointed by
the federal government, preferably an accountant who is trusted, regarded, and
of high integrity, to oversee the finances of the delinquent State. The
appointment of a receiver is an equitable remedy that allows the federal government
takes over the financial aspect of governance of State government in order to
protect the livelihood and welfare of State workers. By appointing a receiver,
the federal government signals to the prodigal governors that it means business
to restore the financial health of the State. It means the federal government
has crossed the line from “talks” into “action” and bans the governors from
dipping their dirty hands into the treasury. For the governors, it means losing
control of the treasury.
The neutral status of the receiver
and credibility will facilitate the needed reforms. The receiver will
prioritize the allocation and spending of funds on programs and projects in the
State. The receiver will conduct an analysis of the financial management
currently practiced by the governors as to how and why they can't pay workers
and put a new financial management in place. For example, the receiver will
ensure the bail out money for payment of salaries of workers is not diverted
into the pockets of the governors. The receiver will prefer to use State funds
for badly needed programs instead of building airports that have no value for
the citizens of the State. The receiver will plug all financial leakages, slash
governors' salaries, freeze security votes of the governors and stop them from
collecting other frivolous and looting-laden allowances and other financial
malpractices that robbed workers of the salaries.
There must be an end to the
sufferings and nightmares of State workers – they deserve better!
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