Enugu State government will receive over N14 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s bailout fund to enable it off- set some arrears of pensions as well as embark on infrastructure development in the state.

From the loan, about N4,207,000,000  will be used to offset  arrears of salaries (subventions) and pensions and N10,000,000,000 for development and infrastructural projects.

Although the fund is yet to be received the state which is allegedly indebted to the tune of over N68 billion confirmed on Wednesday that it inherited N32.27 billion debt comprising arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuity owed to her workers from the past government.

Accountant General of the state, Mr Pascal Okoli who gave the figure at a
meeting convened to discuss with labour leaders in the state on how to disburse the N4 billion (which is part of the N14billion bailout fund), said the state was in serious financial stress.

He stated that “as at June 2015, the arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities owed by the Enugu state and the 17 local governments stood at N32,275,907,800.”

He said that N13.4 billion of the debt constituted arrears of pensions, gratuity and subventions to parastatals and boards, while the balance of N18.7 billion comprised outstanding arrears owed by the local governments.

Meanwhile, there were divergent views on the likely impact of the fund on the state.

For instance, when the State House of Assembly approved the loan last week, the lawmakers had harped on the need to invest the money into productive ventures as to enable the state comfortable repay within the 20 years at nine percent single digit rate at which it was given.

The lawmakers cited the International Conference Centre, reviving some agricultural projects of government among others, stressing that they were hopeful it would make meaningful impact on the state economy.

One of the civil servants in the state, Mr Eze George said though the fund would go a long way in ameliorating the sufferings of the people, stressing that time had come for the incumbent government to call those who incurred huge debts for the state to question.

George said: “I don’t think that this is bailout in the right sense of it. For instance, if somebody retired about 20 years ago and today you are borrowing money to pay his entitlements, what does that tell you about the state? It means that the state is in perpetual debt.’

Explaining that the state government had recently rescheduled a debt of about seven billion naira incurred by the last administration of Sullivan Chime into federal government bond, George stated that the rescheduled debt was still part of the responsibility of the state.

“If they know they are rescheduling the debt into federal government bond, why are they borrowing again?  At what stage did the debt they are talking about accumulated?  Under the last administration, we did not hear of borrowing until at its twilight which was not approved by the lawmakers, so I find it difficult to believe this story of debt.

“We hear that the so-called debt of N7b which has been rescheduled did not get the approval of the state House of Assembly. One may begin to ask question on why and how the state can take responsibility for such debt when it was never approved by the House of Assembly. I think there is no truth yet about Enugu’s debt. It appears to me that government is living on the guise of indebtedness to shy away from its responsibilities”, he said.

Another resident, Mrs Joy Onoh said that the bailout would reduce the burden of governance on Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, stressing that at least the governor will not sit down and face the task of leadership as well as look inwards on how to improve the revenue of the state”.

She advised that it would be sad however if the money should be plunged into ventures that would not yield positively for the state, stressing that Enugu’s debt profile has remained high because of mismanagement.