It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari approved bailout funds for states that are owing workers salary to enable them clear the arrears which Benue had it share of N28.12 billion.
Speaking at the World Teachers Day at IBB square in Makurdi, Governor Ortom said that
“The government of Benue is yet to collect the bailout. The Commissioner of Finance has met all the conditions of the bailout funds and I assure you that by next week, the funds will be accessed by God’s grace”.
He stated that the funds will be used for the purpose for which it is meant for, assuring that,
“We will not fail or cheat Benue people. The rumour that the funds have been accessed is false and not true. In a short time from now, a verification exercise will be carried out to ascertain the number of teachers in the state who are not part of you.
On October 14th he said as quoted below
“Today, the 14th of October, I have just received the alert of the bailout for the state. I have set up a committee to verify the authenticity of the various payment vouchers. the salary wage bill, because we suspect and, smell a rat that there are inflations. Therefore, we have set up a committee, headed by the deputy governor, there are other unions as members of the committee, including the state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), we have brought in the Trade Union Congress (TUC), there is the state chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the state chapters of the Colleges of Education and that of Polytechnics and this is because we want a transparent process”.
The governor use the phrase " we suspect and, smell a rat" on October 14th to delay the payment of the arrears all in the name of screening and fishing out the ghost workers.
Two weeks after the governor had admitted that he had received the alert and workers had also been screened, there was not even a rumour about When the workers would be paid. At this time the workers are left with no option but to smell the bigger rat than the governor smelled. Therefore, people started cooking stories and some accused the Governor of being corrupt and wicked, on reading some of the stories the governor tried to clear the air by saying that
“This is democracy and there is freedom of opinion; the money is meant to pay all workers but even at that, it was later discovered that the released amount would not be enough. And apart from that, there are allowances, pensions and gratuities and by the time we do staff audit, if there are excesses we can address other challenges that the state have.
“The good thing is that nobody is going to divert the money for any reason and that I have instructed. So, I have not lied and the money is not in fixed deposit account, it is in a domicile account and nobody is going to touch it,”
As I am writing this today being the 16th of October 2015, 70% to 80% of teachers in Benue state are yet receive their four months arrears, popularly known as bailouts.
The governor has reiterated that he had not lied and the money is not in fixed deposit account but after a month of receiving the bailout funds he is yet to pay his workers.
Speaking at the World Teachers Day at IBB square in Makurdi, Governor Ortom said that
“The government of Benue is yet to collect the bailout. The Commissioner of Finance has met all the conditions of the bailout funds and I assure you that by next week, the funds will be accessed by God’s grace”.
He stated that the funds will be used for the purpose for which it is meant for, assuring that,
“We will not fail or cheat Benue people. The rumour that the funds have been accessed is false and not true. In a short time from now, a verification exercise will be carried out to ascertain the number of teachers in the state who are not part of you.
On October 14th he said as quoted below
“Today, the 14th of October, I have just received the alert of the bailout for the state. I have set up a committee to verify the authenticity of the various payment vouchers. the salary wage bill, because we suspect and, smell a rat that there are inflations. Therefore, we have set up a committee, headed by the deputy governor, there are other unions as members of the committee, including the state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), we have brought in the Trade Union Congress (TUC), there is the state chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the state chapters of the Colleges of Education and that of Polytechnics and this is because we want a transparent process”.
The governor use the phrase " we suspect and, smell a rat" on October 14th to delay the payment of the arrears all in the name of screening and fishing out the ghost workers.
Two weeks after the governor had admitted that he had received the alert and workers had also been screened, there was not even a rumour about When the workers would be paid. At this time the workers are left with no option but to smell the bigger rat than the governor smelled. Therefore, people started cooking stories and some accused the Governor of being corrupt and wicked, on reading some of the stories the governor tried to clear the air by saying that
“This is democracy and there is freedom of opinion; the money is meant to pay all workers but even at that, it was later discovered that the released amount would not be enough. And apart from that, there are allowances, pensions and gratuities and by the time we do staff audit, if there are excesses we can address other challenges that the state have.
“The good thing is that nobody is going to divert the money for any reason and that I have instructed. So, I have not lied and the money is not in fixed deposit account, it is in a domicile account and nobody is going to touch it,”
As I am writing this today being the 16th of October 2015, 70% to 80% of teachers in Benue state are yet receive their four months arrears, popularly known as bailouts.
The governor has reiterated that he had not lied and the money is not in fixed deposit account but after a month of receiving the bailout funds he is yet to pay his workers.
No comments:
Post a Comment