PLATEAU: Going For Another Loan To Augment Bailout

IN Plateau State, what came in the form of bailout is only a fraction of what was approved for the state. A committee was even set up, which had chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) of the state, Comrade Jibrin Bancir, to fashion out modalities for applying the largesse from the Federal Government.

Members of the committee unanimously agreed that the issue of settling the workers’ salaries should be priority; that there was no need for capital project, whatsoever, to be embarked upon by the governor, because the bailout was just an intervention fund, specifically designed to offset salary arrears.

Out of the total of N10.3b approved for Plateau State, so far, the government has accessed N5.3b. Comrade Bancir, disclosed that N1.2b went to the local councils to pay their workers’ August and September salaries.

Bancir added that the remaining balance of about N4b was for state workers’ June, July and August salaries. He indicated that the state was still waiting for the remaining N5 billion. Yet workers in the state, including local council staff, expressed their sadness, because according to them, the bailout fund was not enough to go round.

It was, perhaps, because of the lamentation of the workers that made Governor Simon Lalong to ask the State House of Assembly to approve another loan of N10b for him so that he could settle all the teething problems he inherited. If approved, the governor would have borrowed N20b since May 29, this year.

Initially, House members kicked against the governor’s request, but when the Accountant-General waded in, explaining what the fund was meant for, the legislators caved in.

So, the Assembly last week approved the loan, having listened patiently to the Accountant-General. Their initial objection to the loan was based on their apprehension as to the real reason the governor wanted the loans.

The House had earlier asked the Committee on Finance to invite the permanent secretary, Ministry of Finance and the Accountant General to appear before it and give details of the projects the state intends to use the loans for and report back to the House. On receiving the report, the Assembly at it’s sitting, approved the request.

In an interaction with journalists shortly after the sitting, the member representing Mangu South and Committee chairman, Environmental and Solid Mineral, Hon. Emmanuel Dakas, said the state had no choice than to access the loan to enable the completion of projects abandoned by previous administrations.

“We approved the loan, because that is the only option for the state to get funds to complete most of the projects left behind by the immediate past government. The Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has already been tied down with the loan collected by the past administration, so, apart from the statutory allocation and VAT, the state does not have any other source of income. If not for the bailout funds, the state would have been unable to pay salaries.”