President Mohamadu Buhari & The Obnoxious Emerging Culture Of Unpaid Salaries In Nigeria
First Published: 17 June 2015 at 15:13
BACKGROUND:
The media is awash with the obnoxious newsthat 20 states as at the last count are unable to pay salaries and this remindsone of the Second and third Republics where it was common place for salaries ofcivil servants particularly Teachers to go unpaid for several months. Thistrend affects the poor and rich states and also brings to mind the ‘viability’of states and the need to merge some, and stop further creation of states.
It is unethical and evil for a nation andthe managers of the Common-wealth to owe the Managers of our futureGeneration-Teachers while expenditure on the Executive and Contractors takepriority hiding under the guise of ‘building’ development.
REASONSFOR UNPAID SALARIES:
This irresponsible act is caused by variousfactors like: Inherited debts and Unpaid loans by previous administrations, Diversionof loans and proceeds of Bonds from the Capital Market, Lack of capacity of leadership,Spendthrift attitude of states, Lack of a saving culture, Absence ofAccountability, Excessive expenditure on elections, Utilization of public fundsfor personal elections, Eradication of management& Administration, Mono product economies, Poor or absence of Internal GeneratedRevenue, Absence of an investment climate.
THEWAY FORWARD:
The 5th Republic is just 18daysold and 23 states have gone cap in hand begging for the intervention of thePresident Mohammad Buhari led Federal Government to bail them out. I willappeal to the President to give these states conditions and time frame for anyform of bailout and these will include the following:
1. ACCOUNTABILITY & AUDIT OF FINANCES OFFGN, STATES & LGAS:
All states to Audit their books and makethem public declaring their assets and liabilities inherited and these reportsmust be verified by the President’s own team to ascertain their authenticity.All receipts from Statutory Allocations from FAC,Ecology Funds, Dividends from Investments,Internal Generated Revenue & Rent, Capital Bonds & other Finacialinstruments must be captured in this report.
2.FULL DISCLOSURE ON FOREIGN (DEBTS) LOANS & EXTENT OF DIVERSION:
The Federal Government must investigateNigeria’s foreign debt of $60 billion from Federal to Local GovernmentAuthorities (MDAS inclusive) and ascertain the following (1) Purpose of theLoans (2) Terms & Conditions (3) Pricing (4) Penalties & Sanctions (5) Tenor(6) Application of these loans or extent of diversion (7) Extent of fulldisclosure & due process of all signatories .
Thestates account for $40 billon (According to the Federal Ministry of Finance) ofthese loans like happened during the second republic where Governors borrowedand never executed the projects. The President must review these indebtednessand ensure that due process and all regulatory terms were complied with by the authorizingrepresentatives of the Federal Government and the states.
3.FULL DISCLOSURE ON LOCAL DEBTS AND LOANS AND EXTENT OF DIVERSION:
The President should demand full disclosureon all outstanding Indebtedness to contractors and Unpaid salaries, Overheads, UnpaidAllowances and Bank loans, Statutory debts (like Scholarship fees andallowances for students), Capital Bonds and outstanding obligations, Forensic reviewof loans, structure, pricing, security, The compliance of commercial banks cumlending banks in complying with statutory Regulatory requirements like CashReserve Ratio, & Debt Management Office Consent. Full disclosure of all Contracts awarded withavailable funds in violation of the dictates of the Procurement Act
4. EXTENTOF MORTGAGE OR SALE OF PUBLIC ASSETS:
There is a need to review the sale ofgovernment assets to ensure that the process was transparent including makingpublic announcements to prevent secret sales of public assets. These salesrange from Shares or Equity in blue chip companies to Power plants and to LandedProperty.
There will be a need to know the extent to whichstates and assets of the public have been mortgaged or lost assets left intrust in the hands of the Political Class, This will curb and dissuade furtherabuse as I prevalent at all tiers of government.
5. THEWAY FORWARD:
President Mohammed Buhari in acceding tothe request for financial bail-out by the states should ask the Governors irrespectiveof party lines to agree to the following items:
AGENERAL TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE BAIL-OUT:
i. Agreeto Terms and Conditions that will surround the bail-out
ii. Atime frame for the duration of the bail-out & repayment
iii. Agreeto a monitoring body to review compliance
iv. Agreeto make Salary payment legal & statutory
v. Reviewhow far the elections exceeded the spending limits for the last elections contraryto the Electoral Act
vi. Redefiningthe concept of Development to go beyond ‘Building things’ to include ‘Managementand Administration’
vii. Governorsto attend bespoke crash BASIC programs in Civics, Social Contract & Money Laundry,Management, Administration, Development Administration, Balance SheetManagement.
viii. PublicDeclaration of the Assets of all Governors, Local Government Chairmen &Managers of the Bureaucracy
ix. Publicdeclaration of assets of all Managers of Regulatory Agencies & LawEnforcement /Security Agencies
SHORTTERM CONDITIONS;
a. Abolitionof Security votes as the Civil War is over and if it is to be left, It must bepegged legally and be accounted for by all beneficiaries.
b. Reductionof Overhead Expenses,
c. Reductionof size of Convoys to 4 vehicles and Amoured vehicles to 2 for Governor &Deputy Governor ,
d. Stopfunding of security agencies (Security Agencies to provide statutory duties),
e. Biometricsof staff and eradication of ghost workers,
f. Thebanks to refund all proceeds Ghost worker related Accounts
g. Abolitionof multiple bank accounts,
h. Noprivate jets & helicopters,
i. Cutin salaries,
j. Reductionof foreign trips to no more than 4 times in a year
k. Entourageon foreign trips must be pegged
LONGTERM CONDITIONS:
a. Reductionof work force or rationalization of work force
b. Salariesto take first line of charge at all tiers of Government
c. Stateaccounts to be in local CBN branches and online payments only
d. Adoption& Establishment of Treasury Single Account (TSA) linked to the Government Integrated FinancialManagement Information System (GIFMIF) like that of the Federal Government.
e. Accenting& formalization of the Sovereign Wealth Fund
f. Automationof the Excess Crude Account
g. Passageof the Freedom of Information Bill by all applicants for the Bail out
h. Puttingfunding for Local Government, Judiciary and the Legislature on first line ofcharge
i. AllowLocal Governments Elections to be conducted by INEC and dissolution should beapplicable like that of Governors
7.CONCLUSION:
A lot of the applicant Governors will resist this moveciting undue interference by the Federal Government and would rather opt for back doortransactions with financial institutions to fund their ‘first love’,Procurement, Contracts & Contractor Payments over and above the welfare ofcivil servants.
These Governors will forget that they did not seek theconsent of the people via referendums as they mortgaged the Public, butobtained approvals through their cohorts in their mostly Rubber Stamp Houses ofAssemblies.
The President must resist this and cause all legitimategovernment workers in Nigeria to be paid as at when due as long as there arestatutory releases from the center to the other tiers of government.
The Governors irrespective of political affiliations arealready gathering based on this issue offinancial insolvent state, they have taken the easy road of laying blames,casting aspersions without removing the ‘speck’ of financial recklessness andpolitical positions that led to their present poor financial state.
EUGENEABELS – The Korporate Rasta Series
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