MOST of the 23 states that got bail out cash from the federal government for the settlement of arrears of workers’ salaries and emoluments, diverted the funds for other purposes, thereby defeating the purpose of the government’s effort to provide succour for the workers.

A comprehensive analysis carried out by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission, ICPC, in conjunction with the Nigeria Labour Congress, revealed last night that many of the states deliberately lied that they were owing their workers huge debts when the reverse was the case.

A major feature of the analysis released by the
ICPC and signed by its Commissioner for Public
Enlightenment, indicated that many of the states
failed to apply the amount received from the
federal government to settle their indebtedness to
their workers, leaving them enmeshed in huge
arrears of salaries to the staff despite collecting
the bailout cash.

A breakdown of the analysis indicates that out of
the 27 states that applied for the fund, only 23 had
been paid by the Central Bank of Nigeria as at the
end of December 2015.

The benefiting states are: Adamawa, Bauchi,
Benue, Cross River, Ekiti, Katsina, Gombe, Kogi,
Nasarawa, Niger, Ondo, Osun, Ogun, Plateau,
Sokoto, Kwara, Bayelsa and Imo.
Others are: Enugu, Oyo, Delta, Kebbi and Zamfara.
Of particular concern to the ICPC, is the case of
Zamfara State, which applied for N32.5bn but as at
the time of collecting N10 billion from the federal
government for workers’ arrears, the state was
reportedly not indebted to any of its workers.
But after receiving the cash, the state government
made overtures to its House of Assembly to
approve the use of the money for the settlement
of indebtedness to contractors and other
purposes.
The House of Assembly thereafter approved the
disbursement of the money as follows:
*Outstanding of payment to 14 LGS of the State:
N4,262,560,629.83
* 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 Vehicles supplied
to State: N319,430,000.00
* Outstanding certificate of construction work at
K/Namoda Juma’at Mosque: N20,4 79,100.39
* Outstanding certificate of construction work at
Emir’s Palace. Gusau: N6,020,000.00
* Share of 14 Local Government Councils Bailout:
N2,035,705,000.00.
In a different dimension of misuse, Imo State,
which collected the sum of N26,806,430.000.00
from the CBN, paid the amount into two
commercial banks and transferred part of the
money into uses not related to workers salaries.
The ICPC said it discovered that N2 billion was
lodged into a Government House Account, N2
billion paid into Imo State Project Account, while
another N2 billion was lodged in a micro-finance
bank and a ‘management fee’ of N21 million paid
into an unspecified account out of the bailout fund
received by the state.
Similarly, Adamawa State got N9,578,360, 000.00
as bailout cash but disbursed only
N2,378,360,000.00 with a balance of
N7,200,000,000.00. According to the report, the
state could not adduce any reason for the slow
process of off-setting the debt as at the time of the
report. However, the state claimed not to owe
outstanding salaries as at September, 2015.
In the case of Bauchi State, the report shows that
out of the N8.609.100.000.00 it received as bail-out
fund, it disbursed N8.4I4.088,383.26 with a balance
of N95.011.616.74. The State claimed not to owe
salaries as at September. 201 5.
Also, Benue State received N 12.503,439.787. 48 as
bailout fund and disbursed N10,852.536.702. 96
with a balance of N 1.650.903.084.52. Analysis of
the documents submitted revealed a double
payment of N37,760,000.00 in favour of Office
of the Deputy Governor. The ICPC said it was
investigating the double payment to the Deputy
Governor.
Cross River State is said to have 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 according to the report, received
N9.604.340.000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed
N9.213. 816.252.44 with a balance of N390.613.747.
56. The State owed one month salary as at 28th
October 2015.
Katsina State got Nl1, 086.630.000.00 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 18lh
February, 2016.
Gombe State got N11,000,000,000.00 and
disbursed N6,321.684.423.67 with a balance of
N4,678,315,576.33. The state claimed it was not
owing salaries as at September, 2015, according to
the report.
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 N4.361.1
19.848.27. 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 off-setting salary debts.
Ondo State received N9.443.059.226.92 as bailout
fund and disbursed N7.905.484.176.60 with a
balance of N1,537.575.050.32. The State reportedly
owed one-month salary and several months
arrears of gratuity/pension as at 30th September.
2015.
Osun State received N34.988.990.000.00 as bailout
fund and disbursed N18.677.224.582.20, leaving a
balance of N16.311,765.418 billion as at
November. 2015. The Commission said it was
verifying allegations that Osun State public
servants had only been paid salaries up to July
2015.
Ogun State claimed it received N18,916.208.664.86
as bailout fund and duly expended the entire sum
for salary arrears and did not owe workers as at
9th October, 2015.
Plateau 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 was owing
two months salaries as at 30th September 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 N
1.285.000.000.00 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.
Enugu State was granted N10,174,238,681.19 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 Staff salaries and
emoluments was not yet assessed.
Oyo State was granted N26,606,944,831.03 as
bailout fund and disbursed N25,495,292,422.63
with a balance of Nl, l 11.652.408.40. The State
owes four months’ salaries as at 7 April. 2016.
Delta State has a total debt value accrued 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
N2,806,9I1,019.50. However, the state claimed not
to owe salaries as at 24th November. 2015.
Kebbi State received N7.080.000.000.00 as bailout
fund and disbursedN2,617,152,577.20 with a
balance of N4,463,975,420.27. The State claimed to
have cleared all outstanding arrears on salaries as
at September. 2015.