Buhari comes to workers aid, Okays N400 Billion to settle workers’ salaries

*ALSO DIRECTS CBN TO PACKAGE OVER $250B SPECIAL INTERVENTION FUND FOR STATES


In his resolve to put an end to the lingering crisis of unpaid workers' salaries in the country especially in several states of the federation, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a comprehensive relief package designed to save the situation.

Specifically, according to informed sources, the President has okayed a three-pronged relief package that will end the workers plight.

These are:


*The sharing of about $2.1B in fresh allocation between the states and the federal government. The money is sourced from recent LNG proceeds to the federation account, and its release okayed by the president.

* A Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging from between N250B to N300B. This would be a soft loan available to states to access for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries.

*A debt relief program designed by the Debt Management Office, DMO, which will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660B, and extend the life span of such loans while reducing their debt-servicing expenditures.

This third option, by extending the commercial loans of the states, would therefore make available more funds to the state governments which otherwise would have been removed at source by the banks. The federal government will sway its financial muscle to guarantee the elongation of the loans for the benefit of the states.

Informed government sources explained over the weekend that this package which was considered at the National Economic Council, NEC last week is designed specifically for workers.

Afterwards, President Buhari has now reviewed and approved the package in his determined bid to intervene and alleviate the sufferings of workers some of whom have not been paid for over ten months.

When contacted, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina confirmed that indeed a special package was on the way for the workers. He added that the president is deeply concerned about the plight of the workers who have been unpaid for long months.

In his speech while inaugurating the NEC last week, President Buhari asked the Council, which is a constitutional advisory body to him, to, as a matter of priority consider how to liquidate the unpaid salaries of workers across the country, a situation he observed has brought untold hardship to the workers.

While the over $2B which is sourced from LNG proceeds to the federation account would be shared among the states using the revenue allocation formula, the CBN will also make available the special intervention fund to states and then negotiate the terms with individual states.

The packages that have now been approved by President Buhari is expected to go into effect this week as the President is said to have directed that release of the funds should be made as soon as possible to assuage the plight of thousands of Nigerian workers in the federal and state governments.

At the NEC meeting, the relief measures were extensively discussed between the state governors and top officials of the federal government including the CBN governor, and the Permanent Secretaries from Ministries of Finance and Petroleum Resources. Other agencies that were actively involved in the process include the DMO and officials from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

Media reports last month say no fewer than 12 of the 36 states of the federation are facing difficult times as the salaries they owe their workers are approximately well over N110bn. This represents the salaries being owed by government of 10 of the states of the federation. They are Osun, Rivers, Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Ondo, Plateau, Benue, and Bauchi states.

However, informed sources said the Finance Ministry and the CBN may have pegged the amount needed to settle all the outstanding public workers salaries at about N250B.

There are also workers in the federal government's employ whose salaries have become back logged. This package is expected to address those cases also.

Experts say this presidential bailout to the workers will boost the purchasing power of a good percentage of the Nigerian consumers and thereby reflate the economy.