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Tag: Paris Club refund

  • governor alleges withholding of Paris Club refund

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has accused the Federal Government of deliberately withholding the release of the Paris Club refund to states, purposely to prevent Ekiti from using the money to pay arrears of workers’ salary before the July 14 election.

    Fayose warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against stopping the collation of elections results midway. He said it was done during the governorship election in Edo State.

    The governor, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, in Ado Ekiti, said Ekiti State and other states had been cleared to get the refund, but the Federal Government refused to release it to the states because of the Ekiti election..

    The governor said: “If it is released to other states without the inclusion of Ekiti, people will suspect the FG of playing politics with it.  The FG used that tactics in Kogi to assist the APC candidate to win.

    “I am using this forum to inform Ekiti people that the FG is punishing and depriving them of their entitlement because of politics.

    “The FG thinks that if I am not able to pay the four months salaries owed the workers, they will vote for APC. Ekiti people are not fools, they know that the Fayemi administration  plunged the state into debt.

    “Fayemi left two months salary unpaid and N1.2bn is being deducted every month from Ekiti allocations to service the debt.

    “So far, N35.34bn has been deducted from allocations coming to Ekiti to service debts owed by Fayemi administration.

    ”If I have N35.34bn, I will not owe workers and I will be able to take care of the needs of the people. Ekiti people are not fools and will not accept APC. They know that the Fayemi administration is the cause of the unpaid salary.

    “ In 2003, during my first term, I inherited  debt from the AD – led government under Niyi Adebayo, I cleared the debt and when I was leaving the government in 2006, I left N10.4bn in government treasury. This is for you to know that APC is a bad manager of state finances.

    “ I want to appeal to the INEC to be a good umpire, live to its name as Independent body. Election should not be stopped midway or counting stopped midway because PDP is winning and APC is losing. Edo formula will not be accepted in Ekiti. People are known to resist cheating and they will defend their votes.”

     

  • Pensioners to shut down Calabar over N9b debt

    Pensioners to shut down Calabar over N9b debt

    The Association of Cross River State Local Government Pensioners has given the state government a one-month ultimatum to defray their entitlements else their entire 5, 600 members would occupy and shut down Calabar, the capital city.

    Chairman of the Association, Comrade Bassey Okosin, addressing reporters in Calabar yesterday stated that the pension board if properly managed, could properly manage itself without assistance from Paris Club Refunds, bailouts or any other such funds.

    Okosin said over N9billion is being owed pensions and gratuity is being owned them since 2007.

    “We would mobilize all our 5,600 members from the 18 local government of the state. We would sleep in the governor’s office, in the house of assembly. We would live with the Governor, the Speaker, the ministries, departments and all the relevant agencies until the give us our money so we can go. We have taken a decision to pack our loads to live in all the offices that responsible for the payment of these entitlements until further notice. This is not threat but likely going to happen in the next one month. We use this medium to appeal to government and all our relations based in Calabar to make adequate arrangements for our needs. It is our belief that all will prefer to take care of us this way than pay for us to take care of ourselves,” Okosin said.

    A statement by the chairman made available to reporters, read in parts, “In a press release credited to the Commissioner for Finance, it was stated clearly that the bailout funds and the Paris Club Refund was used among others in the payment of arrears of pension and gratuity in favour of pensioners in the state.

    “My response to this will be restricted to local government pensioners and I speak on good authority that up till today not even a dime has been paid to any local government pensioner in the state in the name of pension arrears nor gratuity from the bailout nor Paris Club Refund. All efforts made in this direction have been ignored by the relevant agencies of government.

    “About 600 names of local government pensioners that were omitted by the consultant during the 2016 personnel audit exercise is still outstanding. This was deliberate to enable the consultant collect their percentages, which was supposed to be based on savings made from the exercise.

    “The elderly men and women were deprived their pension for a period ranging from two to six months as a result of that exercise. Every documentation/verification of those names have been done for over a year now but nobody appeared to bother about it. This is different from arrears of pension generated by administrative bottleneck, where a person is retired and the process of computing entitlement will linger for between 6 months to two years. When eventually it is ready for payment. Only the current month is paid, while the rest is classified as outstanding arrears.

    “As at today, over 9 billion is outstanding in respect of arrears of pension and gratuity covering the period 2007 to 2018 in favour of local government pensioners. They have been denied these entitlement on account of lack of funds, the bailout fund and Paris Club Refund we are told those not include local government pensioners and no reason has been advanced for this, but we still expect that the right thing will be done alleviate the suffering of our members.

    “Where does the local government pensioners belong? Which fund is expected to clear these outstanding arrears? Is local government pensioners not part of this state? If so why disparities when it comes to their welfare, whereas welfare of other services is given without stress. That of local government pensioners must always have one excuse or the other.

    “We however appreciate Governor Ben Ayade in ensuring pensioners are paid regularly and up to date and pray that it should be sustained. We use this medium to also observe that while employment had stopped for over five years now, retirement rather increases at the average of 35 retirees per month.

    “The nominal roll has increased to 5, 600 pensioners with a corresponding pension bill of over N342 million. Given the steady increase in number of retirees subvention to the pension board should have monthly increase to take care of the increases. Gratuity fund similar to that proposed for the state should be set up from where monthly remittances should be made to cater for this aspect of entitlement for local government pensioners.

    “The operational guidelines on the management of local government pension board provided for local government pensions funds to be created from where the following remittances should be made; 15 per cent of local government annual budgets or monthly allocation; 2.5 per cent of local government personnel emoluments to be remitted by the state; reimbursement by the state for their retirees that are drawing pension from the local government pension board; subsidy to the board by the state from time to time; and reimbursement from the Federal Government for their retirees that are enjoying pension from local government pension board.

    “From the provision, local government pensions board does not require a bailout or Paris Club Refund to manage the board, if all agencies ensure that actual percentages prescribed by this provision are remitted to the letter, but there is apathy on the part of all those whose responsibility it is to implement this directive, thereby subjecting the board to artificial shortage of fund, which renders local government pensioners helpless.”

  • Paris Club Refund: Dickson releases N5.6bn for workers’ salaries

    Paris Club Refund: Dickson releases N5.6bn for workers’ salaries

    The Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, on Friday ordered the release of N5.6billion out of N14.8billion Paris Club Refund he received in December last year for the payment of one- and- half month salary arrears owed workers during the economic recession of 2016.

    It was gathered that the governor called a meeting of top government officials, labour leaders and their representatives in Yenagoa where a decision was taken to pay one- and -half month workers’ salaries.

    A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, said the state government received N14.8billion from the Federal Government.

    The breakdown showed the state received N13.5billion while the local government councils received N1.37billion

    Dickson said the outstanding arrears were a balance of half salaries he paid for seven months during the recession in 2016.

    The governor thanked the workers for displaying understanding during the period of the recession.

    He lamented that while most of the older states in the country had lower wage bills, Bayelsa wage bill was over N6billion because of the “criminal activities of some fraudulent characters.”

     

     

     

  • EVENTS THAT SHAPED THE YEAR

    EVENTS THAT SHAPED THE YEAR

    Buhari’s medical trip to the UK

    Between March and August, the entire landscape was gripped in anxiety over President Muhammadu Buhari’s health, following his medical vacation in the United Kingdom for 103 days. The uncertainty over the exact nature of his illness led to all manner of speculations with some people claiming that he was incapacitated while the more reckless ones even said he was dead.

    It was the second time in the year that the President would visit the UK for medical checks, having previously visited the same hospital in March. The situation nearly resulted in political crisis as some Nigerians demanded his resignation. Mercifully, the President had avoided any form of constitutional crisis with his absence by duly transmitting power to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, before leaving the country on the two occasions.

    President Buhari would later reveal how sick he was in the period he was away from the country, saying that he even had to undergo blood transfusion. But he returned to the country a much healthier man as his physical condition has continued to improve since he returned to the country.

     

    Abandoned N13bn in Lagos apartment and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced that it had uncovered foreign currencies and naira notes to the tune of $43.4 million, £27,800 and N23.2 million (N13 billion in total) in a four-bedroom apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos. The Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mr. Ayodele Oke, claimed that the said money was kept in the apartment by his agency for “covert operation”. Oke was later relieved of his post over his alleged complicity in the matter, while the money was forfeited to the federal government following a court order.

    However, the five per cent of the money which was supposed to go to the whistleblower was enmeshed in controversy after the whistleblower alleged that he was being short-changed by government. The informant was finally paid a sum of N421 million a few days ago after an eight-month delay and has reportedly left the shores of the country.

    Earlier on February 3, the EFCC, following a tip-off, recovered $9.8 million from a building owned by a former Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Andrew Yakubu, in a building located in the slums of Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna.

     

    Paris Club refund

    The refund of money over deducted by the Federal Government to the owner 36 state governments is still causing ripples. The refund is in respect of over-deductions on Paris Club loans and multilateral debts between 1995 and 2002.

    Before disbursing the first and second tranches of the money the FG has asked the state governments to use the money to defray workers’ salary arrears. However, it turned out that the money was reportedly diverted and misappropriated by some state governors, leading to calls by civil society groups and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) that the Federal Government should stop further disbursement of the fund.

    It will be recalled that the federal government had on May 4 released the second tranche of Paris Club refund totaling N243. 795 billion to states. At a meeting with some traditional rulers at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on September 11, President Buhari expressed his disappointment with the inability of the affected state governments to pay the retirement benefits and outstanding salaries of workers with the payment of the refund.

    Buhari said: “We have to digress this much because I would like to convince you that I’m living with the problems of this country day-by-day, and mostly those of the ordinary people. There are Nigerians that haven’t been paid for six months; there are Nigerians that have not been paid their retirement benefits for years. I’m appealing to the governors, (that was why we voted money, we borrowed money), please make sure anybody under you, pay them because most of them depend on that salary to pay rent, school fees.”

     

    Herdsmen-farmers clashes

    The perennial confrontation between Fulani herdsmen and local farmers continued to fester during the year. On October 30, no fewer than six people were reportedly killed in separate clashes between farmers and herdsmen in Yola South Local Government Area of Adamawa State. A few days earlier, some herdsmen had damaged a farm in Sangere, a suburb of Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

    Another clash on November 7 between herdsmen and farmers in Ugaga community, Yala Local Government Area of Cross River left one person dead with several others injured. No fewer than 10 people battled for their lives in a private hospital at Igangan, Oke Ogun area of Oyo State, following the injuries they sustained in a clash between farmers and herdsmen in the area on November 22.

     

    Quit notice to Igbo in the North

    On June 6, Northern youths under the aegis of the Coalition of Northern Youth Groups (CNYG) issued a three-month ultimatum to the Igbo living in the northern part of the country to quit the region not later than October 1. The group hinged the reason for the ultimatum on the activities of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), led by Nnamdi Kanu, who it alleged was sponsoring ”the threat of war, violence and anarchy, and the evidence that such threats are not just rhetorical, is a situation we are now faced with from the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB). Every day comes with a new dimension that poses an impending danger of throwing the country into turmoil. This leads to the uncertainty as well as the question on whether IPOB intends to allow a united Nigeria.” The group however withdrew its ultimatum on August 24, following intervention by the Presidency and well-meaning Nigerians.

     

    Agitation for Biafra Republic

    The pro-Biafra movement, led mainly by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, gained a lot of momentum during the year. The activities of the group peaked after it called for the boycott of the November governorship election in Anambra State, threatening to deal with anyone who failed to heed the order. Subsequently, IPOB was declared a terrorist group by the Army while its activities were proscribed by Southeast governors. Kanu and his lieutenants have since gone into hiding after security forces invaded his country home in Afaraukwu in Umuahia, Abia State.

     

    Suicide cases

    The outgoing year witnessed not a few suicide cases. In most of the cases recorded, frustration, depression, financial challenges, psychological dysfunction and spiritual problems featured prominently as reasons for the act.

    In one of the cases, one Edward Soje, a top civil servant with the Kogi State Government, took his own life a few days after his wife was delivered of a set of triplets at an Abuja-based private hospital after 17 years of childlessness. He reportedly hung himself on a tree behind a mammy market at the Maigumeri Barracks of the Nigeria Army Record Command, Lokoja, Kogi State.

    The 54-year-old Director in the Kogi State Teaching Service Commission was said to have taken his own life on October 16, 2017, as a result of being owed 11 months’ salary by the state government and the financial implication of catering to the needs of his new babies.

    On October 1, 2017, a motorcycle spare parts dealer in Auchi, Estako West Local Government Area identified simply as Muhammed reportedly committed suicide. His body was found dangling in his apartment where he hung himself.

    body was reportedly found dangling from the ceiling of his room.

    Early in the year, a 35-year-old medical doctor with the Papa Ajao branch of Mount Sinai Hospital, Allwell Orji, decided to take his own life by jumping into the lagoon in Lagos. That was on Sunday, March 19, 2017. Six days later, two women, Titilayo Momoh, a textile merchant, and Abigael Ogunyinka, were rescued by the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command, after they attempted to jump into the lagoon from the Third Mainland and Carter bridges respectively.

     

    Kidnapping

    The gale of kidnappings the country had witnessed in previous years continued into the outgoing year. A number of Nigerians were abducted and released only after ransoms had been paid. Of note, six schoolboys at the Lagos State Model College, Igbonla, Epe, were abducted from their hostel by a group of militants. It took the intervention of Ondo State Government to negotiate the boys’ freedom from their abductors who had taken them to their hideout in the creeks of Ilaje in Ondo State.

    On June 10, an alleged notorious kidnap kingpin Chukwudubem Onwuamadike a.k.a. Evans was arrested by the police in Lagos after five years of trailing him. He was arrested at his Magodo residence around 1 pm by operatives of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

     

    Economic recession

    The parlous state of the country’s economy worsted by crash in price of crude oil, which plunged it into recession, continued to bite hard on people. However, on September 5, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced the end of the country’s worst economic recession in more than two decades, notching up a 0.55 per cent growth in the second quarter of 2017. In its report, NBS’ data showed that the economic recovery was driven by improved performance of oil, agriculture, manufacturing and trade sectors of the economy.

     

    PDP convention

    The hoopla generated by the controversial National Convention of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is yet to subside. Contenders for the office of the National Chairman of the party from the Southwest berated the leadership of the party led by former Kaduna State governor, Ahmed Markarfi, of jettisoning the idea of micro-zoning of the National Chairman to the zone. former Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; Prof. Taoreed Adedoja; Prof. Tunde Adeniran and former governor of Oyo State, Chief Rasheed Ladoja. Others included media mogul Chief Raymond Dokpesi and Uche Secondus from the South-south zone.

    Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike was accused by the aggrieved Southwest contestants of scheming for the emergence of Secondus as National Chairman of the party. In the end, Secondus emerged the new National Chairman of the party. A new faction of the party known as Fresh PDP has, however, emerged from the crisis that followed the controversial convention.

     

    Anambra governorship election

    In November, Governor Willie Obiano was re-elected as the governor of Anambra State via a landslide victory despite the gang up against his re-election, especially by his former political godfather and former governor of the State, Peter Obi, who has since defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and backed a former Secretary to the State Government, Oseloka Obaze, as the candidate of the PDP in the election.

    Thirty-six candidates contested the election but Obiano won in all the 21 local government areas of the State. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Obiano, who flew the flag of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), polled 234, 071 votes to defeat his closest rival, Tony Nwoye of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 98, 752 votes, while the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, came third with 70,293 votes. Obaze has since rejected the result.

     

    Trafficking of Nigerian girls

    In November, 26 trafficked women and girls, believed to be Nigerians, were allegedly killed while attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The bodies of the women were brought to the southern Italian port of Salerno by the Spanish ship Cantabria on November 5. Investigation into the incident revealed children as young as 14, among the victims were sexually abused and killed. Reports also emerged of how hundreds of Nigerian girls trafficked as sex slaves were stranded in Libya on their way to Europe. The incident led to the return of 1,317 stranded Nigerians from Libya to the country with heart-rending stories of sexual abuse, assault and killings.

    Diezani’s mansions

    The anti-graft war of the federal government continued with venom in the outgoing year. In February, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recorded another breakthrough after it discovered a Lagos mansion worth N11.75bn said to belong to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

    The property, a 15-storey mansion consisting 18 flats and six penthouses, is located in upscale Banana Island, Lagos. According to the EFCC, the property was acquired by the former minister between 2011 and 2012 at a total cost of $37.5m from the developers, YF Construction Development and Real Estate.

     

    Calls for restructuring

    A fallout of the agitation by pro-Biafra organisations like IPOB resulted in calls by other zones, particularly the Southwest and the North-central, for the restructuring of the country. Leaders of the agitated geo-political zones at different gatherings drummed support for a total overhaul of the country’s political and economic structures, saying it is the only way out of the myriad of socio-political and economic problems facing the country. participants in a communiqué issued after its 2nd Consultative Summit in Abuja, noted that Nigeria is not a proper federation as it is currently constituted. They called for the implementation of the report of the Confab held during the Jonathan administration in 2014.

    At a similar meeting held on September 7 at the Adamasingba Stadium in Ibadan, Oyo State, prominent Yoruba leaders and South-West governors demanded a restructured Nigeria and return to regional government as practised under the 1960 and 1963 Constitutions.

     

    Accidental bombing of IDP camp in Borno

    About 236 people reportedly died while many others were injured on January 17, after a military jet “erroneously” bombed the internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Rann, Kala-Balge Local Government Area of Borno State. The camp caters for thousands of persons displaced by Boko Haram insurgents. Authorities of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) however apologised for the tragic killing of the refugees saying: “The loss occasioned by this unfortunate incident is deeply regretted. NAF commiserates with those affected and their families and would update the public as soon as detailed facts emerge from the investigation.”

     

    Southern Kaduna violence

    About 37 persons were reportedly killed in a renewed violence between farmers and herdsmen in Kajuru, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State on July 19.

    The violent confrontation started after some youths in the area allegedly killed a herdsman they said had been terrorising the area, prompting a reprisal attack from the victim’s fellow herdsmen, who allegedly stormed Ungwan Uka and went on a killing spree.

     

    Ponzi schemes (MMM)

    Despite losing about N18 billion to the popular Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox (MMM) in December 2016, millions of Nigerians were found to still be taking part in about 109 different Ponzi schemes, among which are Get Help Worldwide (GHW), Ultimate Cycler, iCharity and Swiss Gold, to mention a few.

    The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission (NDIC) had declared in March 2017 that Nigerians lost N18 billion to MMM in 2016.

    Fuel  scarcity

    The fuel scarcity that marred the yuletide started almost like a joke.  The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), which had been involved in negotiation with the Federal Government, over some trade union issues, had served notice to embark on strike from Monday December 18, 2017 following a breakdown of negotiation.  However, on Sunday December 17, a day preceding the PENGASSAN strike, Nigerians woke up to observe queues in major filling stations across the country.

    By the following day when the PENGASSAN strike started, the scarcity had worsened.  Ironically, by Tuesday when PENGASSAN called off the strike, the crisis rather than abate grew worse.  The queues got lengthier and the scarcity spread from city to city.

    One of the hallmarks of the crisis is the blame game between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and marketers as to the source of the scarcity.  As the crisis persisted, black marketers that had been consigned to the pit of incertia, bounced back and fuel price rose.  By press time, while a few stations that had the fuel sold at the official price of N145per litre, some others sold for between N200 and N250.  At the black market, the price was between N300 to N400.

    As expected, President Muhammadu Buhari decried the scarcity and empathized with Nigerians.  He ordered the relevant agencies to deal with hoarders, assuring that the scarcity would end in a matter of days.  Vice President Yemi Osinbajo too sympathized with Nigerians over the crisis.  He even went round filling stations to monitor things.

     

    Monkey pox

    On the 22nd of September, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) was notified of a case of suspected Monkey pox in an 11-year-old male patient who presented to the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Subsequently, 11 other cases were identified. All the cases received appropriate medical care. All the patients improved clinically and there were no deaths. As at 1st October 20, 32 close contacts of the cases were identified, advised appropriately and monitored.

    A Rapid Response Team from NCDC was deployed to support the Bayelsa State Government in the investigations and public health response to the outbreak. The team supported the Bayelsa State Department of Public Health and the State Epidemiologist to respond to the outbreak.

    Unlike Ebola outbreak, information on Monkey pox was well managed. There was adequate use of Social Media (SM). The CEO of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu told Nigerians to remain calm, avoid self-medication and report any suspected case to the nearest health facility. He confirmed that Public health authorities across the country have been well informed on what to do when a suspected case arises.

    As the outbreak investigation and response continued, the Bayelsa State Government started an aggressive public enlightenment campaign to advise clinicians and the public on the symptoms of the disease and the steps required to manage the cases and to prevent further spread. NCDC also collected appropriate clinical samples from the cases and these were analysed through the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja.

    This index case on the 22nd of September 2017, which the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) received a report of a suspected case of Monkey pox virus disease from the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Okolobiri, Bayelsa State was well managed. The Bayelsa State Ministry of Health initiated an outbreak investigation and response, supported by a team from NCDC, which was immediately deployed to the state.

    As at 13th of October 2017, there were 17 suspected cases reported from Yenagoa LGA in Bayelsa State. NCDC have received laboratory confirmation for Monkey pox virus from three of these cases from the WHO Regional Laboratory in Dakar, Senegal. Samples from 12 others from Bayelsa were negative, and it awaited two results.

    With these results, the Monkey pox outbreak in Yenagoa was confirmed with laboratory evidence. The most likely source of infection is a primary zoonotic transmission, from an animal, with secondary person-to-person transmission, according to NCDC.

    The Federal Ministry of Health, through the NCDC was in close contact with all State Epidemiology Teams, as well as the health facilities providing clinical care to both suspected and confirmed cases. State Commissioners of Health were advised to place all health care facilities and Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers on alert, to ensure early case detection, reporting and effective treatment.

    A National-level Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) led by the NCDC with support from our development partners was coordinating outbreak, investigation and response across affected States. The EOC included the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as well as experts from partner agencies. The EOC provided daily support to State Ministries of Health in active case finding, epidemiological investigation, contact tracing, case management, psychosocial support and risk communication.

    The NCDC also deployed Rapid Response Teams to the four states with confirmed cases. Measures have been put in place to ensure proper investigation of all reported cases, effective sample collection and testing, as well as case management of all suspected and confirmed cases. Risk communication activities have been heightened to advise the public as well as healthcare workers on preventive measures. A nationwide communications campaign has begun, to inform Nigerians of key preventive measures to take to curtail the further spread of monkey pox.

    The NCDC worked with poxvirus experts from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure that every available step was taken to trace how the Monkey pox outbreak may be spreading, and in understanding the links between case clusters, in order to prevent further spread.

  • Paris Club refund: Delta, Ogun, Adamawa, six others to wait

    Paris Club refund: Delta, Ogun, Adamawa, six others to wait

    •27 states collect theirs
    •ECA swells to $2.317bn
    •FG, States, LGs share N609.959 billion for November

    Nine states including Delta, Ogun and Adamawa are to wait for now before collecting their own share of the third tranche of the Paris Club refunds, The Nation leant last night.

    However, 27 other states have collected their dues in what promises to be a rosy Christmas and New Year seasons for public servants in the benefitting states.

    Much of the funds is expected to be utilized to offset arrears of workers’ salaries and pensions.

    The release of the refunds to the states is in keeping with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari that the states should get the money before Christmas to enable them pay workers and pensioners.

    The Director Home Finance in the FMF, Mrs. Olubunmi Siyanbola, confirmed the payment yesterday at the end of the November 2017, Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja.

    But she declined to name the states that were paid and those that are to wait.

    A total N609.959 billion was shared by the three tiers of government at the FAAC meeting which was shifted from Friday to yesterday.

    This is N77.25 billion more than what they shared in October.

    The Nation gathered that there are some technical challenges and reconciliation matters to be resolved before the nine non-benefitting states can access their own refunds.

    Some of the states are actually expected to refund excess cash previously paid to them.

    But some oil producing states may get more than others having been short paid in the past.

    Investigation showed that Delta, Ogun, Adamawa, and six others have some issues to clarify before drawing the final tranche of the refunds.

    While a consultant has secured a court order in  August to freeze the bank account where Delta’s share of the refunds was domiciled, Ogun and Adamawa are said to have  been paid in excess of their dues and might need to reconcile their accounts.

    A Federal Capital Territory High Court had frozen Delta account following an application by Mauritz Walton Nigeria over failure to pay consultancy fees.

    The court mandated Zenith Bank to “create an escrow account for the frozen cash.”

    A top source, privy to the controversy on the London-Paris Club said:” Some of the nine states have not met the requirements to qualify them for the drawing of the refunds. One of the key criteria is the reconciliation of the actual amount deducted and what such states deserve as refunds.

    “Some of the states cannot even trace records much less reconciliation of records. The Federal Government is not a Father Christmas, they must come clean with their books.

    “Some states have defaulted in paying the consultants they hired. Instead of paying these consultants the 5% in the agreement, they paid them about 2% to 2.5%. They are now forcing these consultants to go to court.

    “Some of the state governors were embarrassed by the agreements entered into by their predecessors on London-Paris Club refunds.

    “For instance, Abia, Kogi, Adamawa, Taraba , Delta and Zamfara opted to pay 10% of their refunds to consultants.  But the states now see this rate as being on the high side.

    A few other states offered between 12 and 20 per cent to their consultants. The breakdown is as follows: Ondo (12%);  Niger, Enugu, Imo, Anambra and Ebonyi (15%); and Edo, Bayelsa, and Oyo( 20%).

    Another source said: “Some states, like Ogun and Adamawa, are expected to make refunds following alleged excess payments made to them. But these states have disputed getting excess.

    “The reconciliation of records will determine the truth or otherwise of the debit status of some of these states.”

    Asked yesterday to shed light on why nine states were excluded from payment of the third tranche of the refunds, Siyanbola said  it was only “a matter of process that is holding” them back and stressed  that they would  get theirs as soon as the processes were completed.

    Another issue that was raised at the FAAC meeting was the accruals into the Excess Crude Account (ECA) which now stands at $2.317 billion as against $2.308 billion last month.

    Commenting on the development, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Mr. Ahmed Idris attributed the marginal increase in the ECA “to interests that have to continue accruing for keeping the money for the future.”

    When asked if the $1 billion the state governors approved for withdrawal from the ECA to fight Boko Haram had been deducted, Ahmed Idris stated:”it is one thing for requests to be made, there is a process for money be taken out of an account.”

    Idris noted that the state governors as part owners of the ECA were perfectly in order to request that part of the money be used to secure the country.

    Regarding Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state’s objection to the withdrawal of $1 billion from the ECA, Idris said Governor Fayose should have made his objections known to the Governors Forum instead of the press.”

    The AGF also explained why the meeting had to take place yesterday , stressing that because of Christmas activities, it was decided to hold the meeting mid-month (December) as against 20-25 of the month so that money would  be available for workers to celebrate Christmas.

    Because of the change in date, Idris noted that “institutions found themselves inundated with reconciling figures at short notices and some FAAC officials were at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) till 9pm and the documents needed got to stakeholders this morning (Saturday)  thus prompting today’s  (yesterday) meeting so that Nigerians can have better Christmas and New Year celebrations”

    Of the N609.959 billion shared by  the three tiers of governments the federal government got N248.227 billion, while the  states received N125.904 billion and the local governments N97.067 billion.

    The oil producing states got an additional N43.215 billion as 13% derivation requirements while the balance of N15.120 billion went for cost of collection and FIRS refund.

    On Value Added Tax (VAT) disbursements, Idris revealed that the total sum of N80.426 billion was shared, with the federal government receiving N11.581 billion, state governments N38.605 billion, local governments N27.023 billion  while  the balance of N3.217 billion went as cost of collection and FIRS refund.

    In his address, the chairman of Commissioners Forum, Alhaji Mahmoud Yunusa said the “Saturday’s figures were higher now but they can be better off. The states are happy that workers will be paid before Christmas.”

  • And now Paris Club refund 3.0

    And now Paris Club refund 3.0

    If most Nigerians missed the story of the boycott of the monthly conclave described as the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) penultimate week, it would seem unlikely that anyone would miss the gracious offer of final (?) tranche of the Paris Club refund by President Muhammadu Buhari to the states the following week.  In the week that the Forum of Finance Commissioners were to have met to share what was on offer in the distributable pool, a seething discord over an alleged transparently opaque bookkeeping by the perennially out-of-date national oil corporation would cause an enraged forum chairman Mahmoud Yunusa to tell his colleagues to go back home to await further instructions “until we reconcile the figures in the accounts”.

    “I sincerely apologise for keeping everyone, but this is the position of our principals through the chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, even though the matter was discussed at length during NEC when all the governors were present. So we should all take our leave and wait for the next date which will be announced later”, he reportedly told his anxious colleagues.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), as it appeared, had not been quite forthright on the matter of the whopping N460. 649bilion said to have been illegally withheld from the Federation Account in the period between January 2016 and September this year; this is aside another $172,913,617.30 million said to be outstanding from the NLNG Feedstock sales, Chevron Cheetah Project, Royalty Oil Sales Value lifting by TEPNGA MCA, RDP Price Review and others which, left to the NNPC would take aeons to resolve. Obviously peeved that such huge cash from crude oil sales revenue will be tagged “outstanding” by NNPC since 2010 not to talk of the unending ritual of account reconciliation, the commissioners, acting at the behest of their principals, insisted they could take it no more.

    Yet again, we must pity the club of desperate governors most of whom in the past few months have been caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. If the presidency had imagined that Bailout 1.0, 2.0 and Paris Club Tranche 1 and 2 making a dent on the albatross that salaries and allowances of serving personnel and pensioners had come to constitute, the reality has turned to be a far cry from the initial projections.  And now, few weeks to the year’s end and with things looming gloomier by the day, the matter could not have been anything but desperate.  You can then imagine their joy at the gracious offer of the Paris Club balance by the President at time many in the states had looked forward to a bleak Xmas, one filled with tears and gnashing of teeth.

    Now, before we get drenched in the latest rain of Paris Club refund, let’s look at how far we have come if only to appreciate what the future portends. In Bailout 1.0 we had the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) put up a special intervention fund of N300 billion to help the states to defray their backlog of salaries; included in that package was a debt relief programme coupled by the Debt Management Office to help the states restructure their commercial loans put at over N660 billion. Bailout 2.0 would follow under which President Buhari, acting on the recommendation of the 66th meeting of the National Economic Council, NEC ‘graciously approved’ the suspension of the deductions from March 2016 allocation to states. The gesture, a breather of sorts to enable the states grapple with the crisis fostered by dwindling oil revenues was expected to pool some N10.9 billion into the states’ coffers. And then the Paris Club refund of N522.74 billion – of which the first tranche of N388.304 billion was released in December 2016 and the second, totalling N243. 795 billion would follow in July this year. And now, Paris Club 3.0.

    In all of this, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun never failed to remind of the gratuitous ‘conditionalities’ attached chief of which is “a Fiscal Restructuring Plan to be prepared by each state with clear measurable objectives”.

    Nearly two years on, Nigerians are in the best position to judge whether the twin objectives of clearing the arrears of wages and pensions, and, the restructuring of state bureaucracies have been achieved.  However, that the chants for intervention have grown louder with every passing cycle of the monthly conclave would seem a reflection of how far those objectives are from being achieved. In any case, the fact that majority of the states are still owing their workers and pensioners, while the quest to get the states to restructure their workforce has somewhat reached a dead end would seem to indicate the futility of the therapy.

    Now, I haven’t quite touched upon the corruption and wastes known to be ravaging the states almost without exception. That, no doubt is a topic for another day.

    So, what would the third tranche achieve? Certainly nothing more than the previous interventions have achieved in terms of providing temporary succour to the states in their hours of distress – particularly the workers and perhaps to a lesser extent, the pensioners most of whom directly bear the brunt of states insolvency.  And so while the beleaguered workers can look forward to a merry Christmas, it seems inevitable that the daemon of insolvency would return much sooner than later, that is, barring real changes in the formula for sharing from the pool and renewed drive for internally generated revenue.

    And when will this end? Pretty difficult to tell – I must admit. One however takes a bet that there will always be something from the piggy bank to throw around whenever things get sticky. Remember, we still have the Excess Crude Account to service just about any purpose(s) under the sun? Has anyone yet thought of the ‘ways and means’ – an art long perfected by apex banks all over the world to save the skins of irresponsible governments?

    It is a brand new political economy of bailouts. All are enjoined to enjoy while it lasts.

  • Buhari to governors: Pay workers’ salaries before Xmas

    Buhari to governors: Pay workers’ salaries before Xmas

    … Approves payment of 50% Paris Club refund to states

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday asked state governors to clear workers’ outstanding salaries before the Christmas celebration.

    He also approved payment of 50% Paris Club refund.

    Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha and his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir el-Rufai, briefed State House correspondents at the end of governors meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Okorocha said: “It was a brief meeting between the governors and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is the end of the year and the President has expressed the need to make ensure that every Nigerian especially the workers have a beautiful Christmas and the issue of outstanding Paris Club was discussed. That was taken care of, to ensure that workers in various states and everywhere in the country get to celebrate the Christmas.

    READ ALSO:   Probe Govs’ spending of Paris club refund

    “We also used the opportunity to review our working relationship with the President from the states and we found out that we are in harmony. There is no difference between us and the President. Everybody seems to be happy working together. But particularly, we commended the President for getting Nigeria out of recession within such a short time. We commended Mr. President and everybody left quite happy.

    “We are looking at getting the balance of Paris Club refund thrashed out once and for all. We also made a request for Mr. President’s approval that the balance should form part of our 2018 budget, because we can’t include it until we are sure that the money is coming. That was also sorted out.

    “So, as it is now, the issue of workers took the centre stage and Mr. President was concerned about those who depend on their salaries to feed their families and pay their house rent and he had the assurance from the governors that we will meet up those obligations.

    “It was emphasised that states and Federal Governments must work together to get Nigeria out of its present economic predicament to make Nigeria a better society for all of us.”

    Asked if all salary arrears will be cleared by each state before Christmas, the governor said “Yes, with the Paris Club refund coming, every worker should enjoy his or her Christmas. I made it clear.

    El-Rufai said what the President approved for payment to pay workers’ salaries before Christmas is the balance of the first 50 per cent Paris Club refund.

    According to him, the governors are also still asking for payment of the second 50 per cent balance so that state governments can capture it in their 2018 Budget.

    He said: “Let me explain. The Paris club figures need to be reconciled. While the reconciliation process was going on, the President approved that 50 per cent of the original amount be paid to the states. The payment started from last year. We still have the balance of the first 50 per cent. This is what the President said should be paid to state governments to meet their obligations before Christmas because he is concerned that many families depend solely on their salaries for the festive period.

    “That had been decided. The balance of the first 50 per cent is what we are expecting now before Christmas. The President has approved that and said it must be paid.”

     

  • Probe utilisation of Paris Club refund by states, Labour Party tells FG

    Probe utilisation of Paris Club refund by states, Labour Party tells FG

    The Labour Party (LP) has called on the federal government to probe the utilisation of the Paris Club refund and the bailout given to states. It said the inability of some states to pay workers salaries was an embarrassment.

    Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, National Chairman of the party, Dr. Mike Omotosho frowned at what he described as the inhuman treatment being meted out to workers, pointing out that after working for thirty days, a worker deserves to be paid his wages.

    He said that in spite of the bailout fund and the Paris Club refund to the states, they have refused to pay, thereby undermining the welfare of workers.

    He called on the government to make good its promise to fight corruption in the country by making the governors accountable and making the process transparent.

    He said the recent reinstatement and redeployment of the former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, was a national disgrace and a ridicule to the anti-corruption campaign of the federal government.

    He said since the President Muhammadu Buhari administration brought him back, they must definitely know where he has disappeared to, and therefore called for his immediate arrest and prosecution.

    “You will recall that Maina was sacked by the last administration and placed on Wanted List. We are calling on the federal government to arrest and prosecute Maina if they know where he is. Since they were the ones that brought him back and reinstated him, they should also bring him out now, arrest and prosecute him,” he said.

  • Edo pensioners dare Obaseki, cause traffic gridlock

    Edo pensioners dare Obaseki, cause traffic gridlock

    Pensioners in Edo State on Thursday continued their protest in Benin City over unpaid pension arrears and gratuities against the threat by the Edo State Government that it would no longer allow stage-managed protest.

    They blocked the King Square thereby causing heavy vehicular traffic in over ten adjoining streets.

    Edo State Head of Service, Mrs Gladys Idahor, had in a press statement said: “the state government would henceforth prevent miscreants who under the guise of agitating for pension payment, disrupt law and order in the society, particularly when there is sufficient evidence showing that they are being sponsored by some anti-development agents and mischievous members of the opposition who have refused to accept the verdict of the people.”

    The pensioners who are staging their 15th protest brandished placards of various inscriptions which read thus “Gladys Idahor, tell Edo people the anti-development agents, mischievous members of the opposition party that are sponsoring the protesting pensioners in Edo State.” “To stop street protests by pensioners, pay them their pensions benefits.” “Obaseki Godwin, tell Edo State what you have done with Paris/London Loan Refunds meant for payment of pensioners entitlements”

    The spokesman for the group, Barr. Gabriel Osemwekhai, said the government want to divert the Paris Club Refund by going on to place advertisements on the newspapers to say it was not owing.

    “There is money the federal government brought which is the Paris Club Refund money. It was brought to pay all the outstanding arrears of pensioners and serving workers including pensioners gratuities.

    ” This is the Money they diverted that is making them go all about to bring adverts. They know that people cannot know what is really on the ground. The plain truth is that they cannot dare confront us because they know they are owing us.

    “The good side of it is that they paid directly to the bank if anything is in doubt, we will refer to the various banks and let them say where they pay the money to. So, what we are asking for is pension arrears and gratuities, simple. It is not all the noise Gladys Idaho, the HOS is making. That is just an empty noise couple with her empty threat”, he said.

    The pensioners alleged that they were owed between five and 42 months pension arrears, gratuity for local government pensioners from 2008 till date and for the State pensioners, it is from 2012 till date.

  • Governors: Paris Club refund is right of states

    Governors: Paris Club refund is right of states

    State Governors are not begging the Federal Government for money, but asking to be paid the Paris Club refund, which is their entitlement, a governor said yesterday.

    Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abubakar said the President’s statement to the governors at a meeting on Tuesday was part of his usual concern for the plight of workers. He did not see it as an indictment of the states’ helmsmen.

    The governor said: “Don’t forget, this is money that belongs to us. We are not begging for anything, but demanding what belongs to us and that it should be paid to us.”

    Abubakar, who addressed reporters after a meeting of some All Progressives Congress (APC) governors with the National Working Committee (NWC), said governors judiciously utilised the Federal Government’s intervention in the payment of salaries and pensions.

    He added: “I was at the meeting with the President. Mr President, in his usual fashion, expressed his concern on the plight of workers and the downtrodden. He did not direct any accusation at the governors because the governors have actually utilised most of the intervention fund from the Federal Government for payment of salaries.

    “Take Bauchi State, for example, my salary bill is N5.1 billion (states and local government). If you count the number of months that I came to FAAC and collect anything above N5 billion, it will not be more than five months in my two and half years in office.

    “But because of the intervention today, I am proud to say that I am not owing a single kobo salary or pension. We have in the main, utilised this intervention towards payment.”

    President Muhammadu Buhari told some governors on Tuesday that he was concerned about the agitation for salaries. “How can anyone go to bed and sleep soundly when workers have not been paid salaries for months,” Buhari said.

    The governors at the governors NWC meeting include: Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Abubakar (Bauchi), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Godwin Obaseki (Edo) and Abdullahi Jibrilla Bindo (Adamawa).

    Deputy Governors of Ondo, Kano, Kogi and Nasarawa states stood in for their governors.

    On why Southwest governors were absent, the Bauchi governor said: “There is no communication gap. Two other deputy governors sent word that their flights were cancelled because of weather problem. The same thing applied to the Sokto State Governor who sent word that his flight was cancelled due to difficulty in weather.

    “So, there is no communication gap whatsoever. In the past, the governors were attending. Governors are very busy people and it is always very difficult for us to have time to be on the field in addition to running our states.”

    On the statement credited to former APC Interim Chairman Chief Bisi Akande that President Buhari was yet to tell the party that he would run in 2019, he said: “The meeting has not deliberated on that. The APC has a constitution and, in fact, that is one of the items that was discussed, how to amend the constitution of the APC with a view to strengthening the party in line with democratic principles. We will abide with the tenets of the constitution.”

    National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi said the leadership of the party an its governors fully supported Buhari’s request that the World Bank should focus on the Northeast. According to him, the President’s request was not meant to give preferential treatment to any section of the country.

    He said the President’s statement was made in view of the specific attention that the Northeast needed as a result of the devastation caused by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    He said: “You will recall that a few days ago, there was an issue in the media that President Muhammadu Buhari had asked the World Bank to focus attention on the north of Nigeria.

    “The issue came up for discussion and the meeting threw its weight behind Mr. President’s position and we will like to clarify, in addition to everything that has been said, that the import of Mr President’s statement to the World Bank is in recognition of the particular devastation that Boko Haram has caused in the Northeast of Nigeria.

    “Therefore, when Mr. President was asking the World Bank to focus attention on the development of the Northeast, he had in mind the necessary reconstruction that needs to happen in that part of the country, especially in the Borno, Yobe and Adamawa axis that suffered specifically because of the Boko Haram activities.

    National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun said previous editions of the meeting had been extremely useful not only in stabilising the party, but also contributing immensely towards handling various challenges.

    He said: “I welcome you to the sixth of the series of our consultative meetings, which have proved to be extremely useful not only in stabilizing the party but also contributing immensely towards handling various challenges that have appeared before us as a nation and as a people.