Salary Arrears: No federal bailout for governors

June 23, 2015 – Governors who are heavily indebted to workers, owing salary arrears in excess of five months were totally disappointed today when President Muhammadu Buhari failed to bail them out.

The governors had anticipated that Buhari will play the big brother during the meeting summoned by the President for Tuesday in Abuja.

What the governors were able to get was just  an agreement that the Federal Government should pay debts indebted to the states for works done on federal assets.

Briefing  correspondents after the meeting, Zamfara State Governor  who is chairman of the Governors Forum,  Alhaji Abdullaziz Yari, said that instead of a bailout, the state governments were told to look inwards and generate needed funds to clear the debts.

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He said that the governors also requested that the Nigerian Liquefied Gas Company  tax  be paid into the Federation Account and be shared. They also requested that all money accruing from the Federation Account should be shared as stipulated in the constitution.

Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who is owing salary arrears up to seven months had cried out that he is helpless, stressing that he borrowed about N25 billion to pay salaries in the past but that banks are no longer willing to assist.