President Muhammadu Buhari says it is “a matter of
great concern” to him that nearly two-thirds of
states of the federation are still having difficulties
with paying salaries, despite the bailout funds
provided to them by the federal government.
He therefore said he would “strive to make more
funds available to the states”.
This, he said he would do by specifically “expediting
action on refunds due to them for the maintenance
of federal roads and other expenses incurred on
behalf of the federal government”.
According to a statement by Garba Shehu, senior
special assistant (media and publicity) to the
president, Buhari was speaking on Thursday at a
meeting with members of the Nigeria governors
forum at the presidential villa.
“President Buhari said that he was very disturbed
by the hardship which state government workers
across the country and their families were facing
due to the non-payment of salaries,” read the
statement.
“To ameliorate the hardship being faced by affected
workers, the President said that the Federal
Government will strive to make more funds
available to the states by expediting action on
refunds due to them for the maintenance of federal
roads and other expenses incurred on behalf of the
Federal Government.
“President Buhari also said that he will establish an
inter-ministerial committee to study a Fiscal
Restructuring Plan for the Federation which was
presented to him by the governors.
“The President said that the committee will review
the plan to improve the finances of state
governments and make recommendations on how
proposals in the plan should be dealt with by the
Presidency, the Federal Executive Council and the
National Assembly through legislation.
“President Buhari urged the governors, however, to
understand that while he was ready to do all within
his powers to help the states overcome their
current financial challenges, the Federal Government
also has funding problems of its own to contend
with.”
Garba’s statement quoted the statement as
specifically telling the governors: “You all know the
problems we have found ourselves in. You have to
bear with us.”
Garba also said Abdulaziz Yari, governor of Zamfara
state and chairman of the governors forum, and
Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, who
chaired the committee that worked on the fiscal
restructuring plan, asked the federal government to
do more to help the states financially.
“The governors told the President that while they
had resolved to take other measures to boost their
internally-generated revenue, the implementation of
the Fiscal Restructuring Plan will help them to deal
with their funding problems on short, medium and
long-term bases,” he said.
“They said that if the plan was adopted and
implemented by the Federal Government, states of
the federation will become more financially
empowered to fulfil their constitutional
responsibilities.”
The Cable
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