Full text of ICPC’s report on the monitoring of bailout funds granted states:
Preamble
The Independent corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission (ICPC), working in concert with the Nigeria Labour Congress, made
good its resolve to monitor the bailout funds for the offset of salary arrears
loaned to twenty seven states of the Federal Republic as approved by President
Muhammadu Buhari
Following the conclusion of the monitoring exercise, the
commission hereby wishes to issue, for public notice, the report of
the exercise. The commission also will not hesitate to provide
updates to this report where applicable.
It is important to note that the monitoring exercise report and
probable updates are being released to the public by ICPC to foster understanding
between workers and the state governments by providing a transparent process
that eliminates information gaps that often lead to
rumour-mongering. The Commission is convinced that this will promote
a healthy atmosphere for interaction between
the parties on the matter.
the parties on the matter.
Introduction
As part of the Federal Government’s effort to end the lingering
crisis of unpaid worker’s salaries in most states of the federation, President
Muhammadu Buhari approved a comprehensive relief package designed to salvage
the situation through the Central Bank of (CBN)’s Special Intervention Fund
which offered states soft loans solely for the purpose of paying the backlog of
salaries.
Benefiting states
Whereas the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is yet to officially
confirm this to the Commission, the twenty-seven benefiting states from the
open sources are Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta,
Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger,
Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara states.
Following strident allegations of diversion of these bailout funds
and to avoid industrial unrest, ICPC, in collaboration with the Nigerian Labour
Congress (NLC), decided to monitor the disbursement of the bailout funds in the
27 benefiting states. However; relying on available resources, we could only
cover twenty-three states as follows:
Adamawa: Total debt value accrued from staff salaries and emoluments
was N9,578,360,000.00. The state received N9,578,360,000.00 as bailout fund and
disbursed N2,378,360,000.00 with a balance of N7,200,000.00. The
reason for the slow process of off-setting the debt was not provided at the
time of this report. However, the state claimed not to owe outstanding
salaries as at September 2015.
Bauchi: Total debt value accruing from staff salaries and emoluments
was N14,820,775,109.50. The state received N8,609,100,000.00 as bailout fund
and disbursed N8,414, 088,383. 26 with a balance of N195,011,616.74. The state
claimed not to owe salaries as at September 2015.
Benue: Total debt accruing from staff salaries and emoluments
amounted to N12,503, 439,787.48 The state received N12,503,439,787.48 as
bailout fund and disbursed N10,852,536,702.96 with a balance of
N1,650,903,084.52 Analysis of the documents submitted revealed a double payment
of N37,760,000.00 in favour of the office of the Deputy
Governor. This double payment is presently being investigated.
Cross River State is yet to submit her
actual debt profile. The state received N7,856,400,000.00 as bailout fund
and disbursed N3,140,883,,040.77 with a balance of N4,715,516,959.23 However
the state claimed not to have outstanding salaries to workers as at 19/11/2015.
Ekiti State’s total debt accrued from
staff salaries and emolument of N3,000,266,146.64 The state received N9,604,340,000.00
as bailout fund and disbursed N9,213,816,252.55 with a balance of
N390,613,747.56. The state owed one month salary as at 28th October,
2015.
Katsina State: Total debt value accrued
from staff salaries and emoluments of
N11,086,630,000.00 The state received N11,086,620,000.00
as bailout fund and disbursed N2,512,214,530.71 with a balance of
N8,574,415,469.29. The state claimed to have cleared all outstanding salaries
as at 18th February 2016.
Gombe State has a total value
accrued from salaries and staff emolument of N9,222,432,872.67. A total sum of
N11,000,000,000.00 was granted to the state as bailout and it disbursed
N6,321,684,423.67 with a balance of N4,678,315,576.33. The state claimed it did
not owe salaries as at September 2015.
Kogi State claimed no to have received
bailout funds approved for the state by the Federal Government as at 8th August
2015.
Nasarawa State received N8,317,167,368.87
in two tranches of N3,956,047,519.60 and N4,361,119,848.27 as bailout fund and
disbursed N3,956,047,519.60 with a balance of N4,361,119,848.27. The state
claimed not to have paid local government workers’ salaries due to an on-going
verification exercise.
Niger State received
N4,396,810,000.00 as bailout fund and the entire amount was claimed to have
been expended in offsetting salary debts.
Ondo State’s total debt value accrued
from staff salaries and emoluments and was put at N23,151,324,517.39. The state
received N9,443,053,226.92 as bailout fund and disbursed N7,905,484,176.60 with
a balance of N1537,575,050.32. The state owes one month salary and several
months arrears of gratuity (and) pension as at 30thSeptember 2015.
Osun State received N34,988,990,000.00 bailout fund
N18,677,244,582.20 was disbursed leaving a balance of
N16,311,765,418 billion as at November 2015 the Commission is verifying
allegation that osun state public servants have only been paid salaries up to
July 2015.
Ogun State received N180,916,208,664.86 as bailout fund. The
state claimed to have expended the entire sum of salary arrears and did not owe
worker as at 9th October, 2015.
Plateau State’s total debt value accrued from staff salaries and
emoluments of N5,090,251,996,39. The state received N5,357,570,000.00 as
bailout fund and disbursed N5,330,589,061.15 with a balance of N26,980,938.85.
The state owes two months salaries as at 30th September, 2015.
Sokoto State’s total debt value accrued
from staff salaries and emolument including pension, severance and gratuity of
N3,488,11.165.77. The state was granted N10,093,370,000.00 as bailout fund and
was yet to disburse as at the 19thOctober, 2015.
Kwara State received the sum of N4,320,950,000.00 as bailout fund
and disbursed N4,291,087,985.08 for staff salaries and emoluments with a
balance of N29,862,014.92 The state claimed to have cleared all outstanding
salaries as at 20th October 2015.
Bayelsa State applied for the sum of N1,285,000,000.00 and had
concluded disbursement formalities. But the central bank of Nigeria was yet to
release the said fund to the state as at 18th December 2015.
Imo State applied for and
received bailout funds of N26,806,430,000.00 from the Central Bank of Nigeria,
which was domiciled in two commercial banks, namely Fidelity and Zenith Bank.
In the course of analysis, it was discovered that some transfers were made
into certain Imo State Government accounts, which are not related to salaries
and emoluments as follows:
i N2 billion into a Government House account
ii N2 billion into an Imo State project account
iii N2 billion transferred to a micro finance bank
iv A management fee of N21,017,810.00 was paid into an unspecified
account.
Zamfara State requested for the sum of
N32,512,495,183.27 bailout funds and received the sum of
N10,020,052,964.51 After careful analysis of the document provided and
interaction with the Nigerian labour leaders in Zamfara State by ICPC staff, it
was revealed that the state was not owing civil servants and pensioners any
arrears as at the time the Federal Government released the bailout funds.
The state government, in order to utilise the funds, made overture
to the Zamfara State House of Assembly requesting to the funds to settle some
liabilities amounting to N10,020, 751,072.98 as follows:
*Outstanding payment to 14 LGS of the
state: N4,262,560,629.85
* Outstanding payment of fertilizer for 2014
farming
season N3,056,300,000.00
* Outstanding certificate for construction of Bungudu Nahuche
Kyabarawa Road 22.6km N265,256,342.76
* Outstanding certificate of Hostel Block at Abdu Gusau
Polytechnic, T/Mafara N55,000,000.00
* Payment of outstanding cost of vehicle supplied to
state N19,430,000.00
* Outstanding certificate of construction work at K/Namoda Juma’at
Mosque N20,479,109.39
* Outstanding certificate of Contraction work at Emir’s
Palace Gusau: N6,020,000.00
* Share of 14 local government coucil’s
bailout N2,035,705,000.00.
The Zamfara State House of Assembly passed a resolution for the
utilization of the funds on the above items, which was communicated in the
Secretary to the State Government vide letter ZMHA/LEG/089/V.1/13 dated 31st August
2015.
Enugu State has a total debt value accruing from salaries and
emolument of N13,764,622,725.38 and N23,279,099,157.58 as domestic debt. The
State was granted N10,174,238,681.49 as bailout fund as at 16th November
2015. Analysis of the documents submitted revealed that the state disbursed
N5,967,238,681.19 from the bailout fund to settle domestic debts and claimed
that funds for the payments of state salaries and emoluments was not yet
assessed.
Oyo State’s total debt value accruing from staff salaries and
emoluments is N26,606,944,831.03. The state was granted N26,606,944,831.03 as
bailout fund and disbursed N25,495,295,292,422.63 with a balance of
N1,111,652,408.40. The state owes four-month salaries as at 7th April,
2016.
Delta State has a total debt value accruing from staff salaries
and emoluments of N36,417,217,601.53 The state was granted N10,936,799,299.36
as bailout fund and disbursed N8,129,888,279.86 with a balance of
N2,806,911,019.50. However, the state claimed not to owe salaries as at 24th November
2015.
Kebbi State’s total debt value accruing
from staff salaries and emoluments is N8,778,594,714.78. The state
received N7,080,000,000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N2,617,152,577.20 with
a balance of N4,463,975,420.27. The state claimed to have cleared all
outstanding arrears on salaries as at September 2015.
NOTE:
The report indicates findings at the dates indicated above for
each state. Subsequent changes may have taken place thereafter, which the
various states and Nigerian Labour Congress are at liberty to bring to our
notice for verification and further comments as the need arises.
This report is published to assist all parties eliminate
unsubstantiated allegations and promote peaceful negotiations and understanding
in the management of government processes.
This report comes under ICPC prevention mandate and states
are welcomes to use this initiative.
ICPC Hqtrs, Abuja
Culled from: The Nation
Culled from: The Nation
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