Nasarawa State Bail-out fund & the trade unions strike actions

 Article Not Written By Me.

Recent happening in some states across the country has called for great concern. It is now no news that almost all the States that applied and received the bail-out funds are having serious issues with the people in these states which in most cases has degenerate into ugly incidence in some local communities and some state capitals. In the recent past during the previous administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the world experience the global financial crisis, this development led to the collapse of some countries economy, some in the brim of collapse, value of currencies dropped, rapid drop in petroleum products prices in the international market which affected the major source of income generation of our great country Nigeria. This development in turn affected the fiscal or federal allocations to states and local government and as a result, state governments could not handle both recurrent and capital expenditure as usual. As such civil servants salaries could not be paid in full across the country, contractors couldn’t be paid. Some states were having three, four, five and even up to nine months’ salary backlogs. That was unfortunate crisis that befell us, until God in his infinite mercy blessed us with a solution and gave us a messiah that has the interest of the masses at heart and who is ready to stand and fight for the down trodden at any point in time. The present Administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari proposed the idea of the bailout because of the persistent out-cry of the people to bring an end to this problem and because of the unmeasurable  love for the helpless masses and civil servants in the country, Mr. President agreed to bail-out our state Governors on this salary back logs to enable all indebted states pay-off all depth owed their civil servants and ease their sufferings. While in its effort to avoid the re-occurrences of such situations, this Administration have been trying to stabilize and improve the Nigerian Economy with a focus on the diversification of the economy towards Agriculture, Mining, Science and Technology etc. so that Nigeria could have an alternative sources of income for the country but making transparency and accountability its watch word.

THE PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY STATE GOVERNORS ON THE DISBURSEMENT OF THE BAIL-OUT FUNDS

This is where the problem lies. Recent events in some affected states where this bail-out fund is expected to be disbursed had problems with their State Governors. Lots of articles were written accusing them of plans to siphoned part of the bailout funds, some local Government staffers, academic staff unions of Polytechnic, Colleges of Education and even Universities went on demonstrations and strikes for the delay in the payment process. This is an inevitable habit of human, “impatience”. Patience is a virtue we must all try to have as lack of it causes destructions, resentment, conflict and misunderstanding in our society. Some of these civil servants have been living without salary for couple of months with no hope of being paid anytime soon until recently when the Federal Government intervened on the matter, so I see no reason why we shouldn’t be a little more patient with the process of disbursement. One of the common characteristics and problems with the Human is our quick to judge syndrome. We should not be quick to forget that Government processes takes time and this delays is not always intentional or deliberate but it is as a result of respect for due process which requires that the sanctity of the constitution and respect for Bureaucracy or civil service procedures and Norms be followed or observed. As such we the governed owe it a duty to be patient with our Government and leaders and should be reasonable and considerate. I believe if it is at the discretion of our leaders to disburse this fund at any time and anyhow they so desire, without following any process, they would have done that immediately they accessed these funds to avoid all the accusations, insults and condemnation raining on them by their subjects. 

THE UNFORTUNATE NASARAWA STATE SCENARIO

The Nasarawa State bail-out fund has sparked lots of misunderstanding which was engineered by some enemies of the Executive Governor and the state. We cannot hide from the fact that His Excellency Alh. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura has some sworn hatters and antagonist who will stop at nothing to try to frustrate his administration and make him loose focus and these people are not just in the opposition parties alone but even within the Governor’s own party, the All Progressive Congress (APC). These infinitesimal individuals emerged as a result of Governor Al-Makura’s resolve to run a transparent, accountable and due process government. The man has obviously shown how he intends to discharge his duties/mandate without any sense of bias, sentiment of any kind, either religion, ethnic or/and nepotism but bases his administration on Meritocracy and Good Governance. 

THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT NASARAWA STATE BAIL-OUT MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW

The Nasarawa State Government received the total sum of N8.1 billion Naira from the Central Bank of Nigeria as bail-out fund with the state taking N3.8 Billion and 4.3 billion to the Local Government, this was confirmed by the Nasarawa State ALGON Chairman and Chairman Lafia Local Government Council in person of Alh. Suleiman Wambai, on Sunday 1^st November, 2015 at a press conference in Lafia.  According to the ALGON Chairman, “Nasarawa State Local Government Councils have received N4.3 billion from the State Government to pay salaries of their workers. With the availability of the bail-out funds, we are happy to tell you that we are going to pay 50 per cent for July, 100 percent for August and 100 per cent for September” he said. 

The Trade Union’s actions in Nasarawa State indicated that they don’t mean good for this government and the state. It will interest the people of Nasarawa state to note that some fragment of the trade union that called for that strike was invited for meetings with the ALGON officials to discuss the ways and manner this fund should be disbursed after it was confirmed to them that funds has been received by the Nasarawa State Local Government councils as confirmed by the State ALGON chairman in his press release on the 1^st Nov. 2015. Yet they went ahead to call for strike. The big questions here are what was the strike for? And to what end?

The questions above became imperative and unavoidably necessary because if these same people who met with the leadership of the State ALGON and Nasarawa State Local Government Council to discuss how to disburse the said funds and it was confirmed to them that these funds was received then why the call for strike? Please let’s ask ourselves this question and ponder over it for a moment and then see what pops up. Am sure we will realize that the real motive behind the call for this strike by the leadership of this trade union was never for the interest of the people. That was why Mr. Suleiman in his press release “expressed shock and disappointment from the trade unions strike  actions and called it an action that was unexpected, unwarranted, uncalled for and detrimental to the present administration despites her effort to ensure that every worker gets paid”. Now you will agree with me when I said these individuals don’t mean well for our dear state as these revelations by Alh. Suleiman has clearly shown that those fragments of the trade Union were driven by personal interest rather than the people’s interest. 

We should note that Local Government administration is the cornerstone of a people-centered democracy anywhere in the world.  As such I see no reason why we should allow some few individuals manipulate it or its leadership/union for their own gains at the detriment of our peace, unity, progress and development. Let me remind us that The debt owed this state is among the least owed state in Nigeria. Nasarawa state is having a backlog of just two and half months’ salary, while in other states, they fall between the range of 3 to 9 months yet workers in such states are still patient with their state Government because they know that their monies will eventually come as no delay would stop it from getting to them, this is how to play our bit as followers and Nasarawa state cannot be an exception.

The people of Nasarawa State should not forget that government has certain Norms and routines, roles and civil service procedures, code of conduct in its dealings and criminal penalties for any act contrary to this code of conduct. The bailout funds may take longer against the anxiety and expectation of the people but one thing is for certain with the Al-Makura led administration and that is holistic accountability (i.e. financial accountability, Constitutional accountability and Administrative accountability) and Transparency. Accountability is quite essential for effective and efficient operations of any organization. In many countries, information concerning Government activities is shrouded in secrecy but thank God the President Buhari led Government is one that takes accountability very seriously especially the aspect of financial accountability. So the delay experienced in Nasarawa State is no different from the ones experienced in any other states affected. So what we lack and Government needs is patience, we must try to strike that balance for our country to move on. 

As an indigene of Nasarawa state and a good follower of political trends and activities in the state and the Nation at large, series of unfolded events have made it crystal clear that the Governor Al-Makura led Government has a lofty and better developmental vision for Nasarawa State. We have had two previous administrations in Nasarawa State from 1999 to 2011 and we saw what they did in Nasarawa State and I have no doubt that, you will agree with me that Gov. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura’s led government has achieved in 4 years what these two administration combine could not achieve in 12years. I want to unequivocally and without any reservation state here and now that Nasarawa State have never had a true people-oriented leader, a man of great integrity, a charismatic and visionary leader, a man of his words, a true icon of hope, a man who chooses the people above anything else like Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura. In fact the people of Nasarawa State should consider themselves fortunate to have gotten the person of Governor Al-Makura as our Executive Governor especially at this crucial and critical moment, as he came as a messiah to bring us to compete with our contemporary/sister states in terms of development. I want to reiterate my earlier assertion again that Gov. Al-Makura has achieved in four years what these two administrations did not achieve in 12 years. Contact me for overwhelming proofs In case of any doubts.

Finally, permit me to use this medium to call for caution, particularly, the Local Government workers, and even state civil servants in Nasarawa State to wise-up and be watchful as some people may want to use you or your unions/association to distract the present administration from achieving their mandates and promises made to the people of Nasarawa State. And I urge us all to say NO to enemies of Nasarawa State, say NO to enemies of development and progress, say NO to enemies and distractors of true change and say NO to strike for strike is not the solution to any disagreement but dialogue. I am also calling on us all to match behind Governor Al-Makura as he takes us to the promise land. Let’s all throw our support behind him like we never did before. Stand by him till the end, so that in return we shall continue to enjoy the true dividends of democracy as he continue to transform our suburbs to cities, the jobless to jobbers, hopeless to hopeful, needies to self sufficients, illiterates to students and students to professionals. if the people of Nasarawa State cannot thank His Excellency Alh. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura for his selfless service to us then we should not condemn him.

God bless the home of solid Mineral. God bless Nasarawa State, and God bless Nigeria.

By Nasiru Abdullahi

Editor with The ICONS publishers limited Zaria, Kaduna state.          

//08033648779// Email: man3nas@yahoo.com,