The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), working in concert with the Nigeria Labour Congress, made good its resolve to monitor the Bailout Funds for the offset of salary arrears loaned to twenty-seven states of the Federation as approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
2. Following the conclusion of the monitoring exercise, the Commission hereby wishes to issue, for public notice, the report of the exercise. The Commission, also, will not hesitate to provide updates to this report where applicable.
3. It is important to note that the monitoring exercise report and probable updates are being released to the public by ICPC to foster understanding between workers and the State Governments by providing a transparent process that eliminates information gaps that often lead to rumour-mongering. The Commission is convinced that this will promote a healthy atmosphere for interaction between the parties on the matter.
REPORT ON BAIL-OUT FUNDS MONITORING OF STATES AS AT 29TH FEBRUARY 2016
1. Introduction:
As part of the Federal Government’s effort to end the lingering crisis of unpaid worker’s salary in most States of the Federation, President Muhammadu Buhari approved a comprehensive relief package designed to salvage the situation through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Special Intervention Fund which offered affected States soft loans solely for the purpose of paying the backlog of salaries.
2. Benefitting States:
Whereas the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is yet to officially confirm this to the Commission, the twenty-seven benefitting States from the open sources are: Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara State.
3. Findings:
Following strident allegations of diversion of these bail-out funds and to avoid industrial unrest, ICPC in collaboration with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), decided to monitor the disbursement of the bailout funds in the 27 benefitting States. However, relying on available resources we could only cover twenty-three States as follows:
1) Adamawa State – total debt value accrued from staff salaries and emoluments was N9,578,360,000.00. The State received N9,578,360,000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N2,378,360,000.00 with a balance of N7,200,000,000.00. The reason for the slow process of off-setting the debt was not provided as at the time of this report. However, the State claimed not to owe outstanding salaries as at September, 2015.
2) Bauchi State – total debt value accrued from staff salaries and emoluments was N14,820,775,109.50. The State received N8,609,100,000.00 as bail-out fund and disbursed N8,414,088,383.26 with a balance of N195,011,616.74. The State claimed not to owe salaries as at September, 2015.
3) Benue State – total debt accrued from staff salaries and emoluments amounted to N12,503,439,787.48. The State received N12,503,439,787.48 as bailout fund and disbursed N10,852,536,702.96 with a balance of N1,650,903,084.52. Analysis of the documents submitted revealed a double payment of N37,760,000.00 in favour of Office of the Deputy Governor. This double payment is presently being investigated.
4) Cross River State is yet to submit her actual debt profile. The State State received N7,856,400,000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N3,140,883,040.77 with a balance of N4,715,516,959,23. However the State claimed not to have outstanding salaries to workers as at 19/11/2015.
5) Ekiti State – total debt accrued from staff salaries and emoluments of N3,000,266,146.64. The State received N9,604,340,000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N9,213,816,252.44 with a balance of N390,613,747.56. The State owed one month salary as at 28th October, 2015.
6) Gombe State has a total value accrued from salaries and Staff emoluments of N9,222,432,872.67. A total of N11,000,000,000.00 was granted to the State as bailout and disbursed N6,321,684,423.67 with a balance of N4,678,315,576.33. The state claimed they do not owe salaries as at September, 2015.
7) Katsina State – total debt value accrued from staff salaries and emoluments of N11,086,630,000.00. The State received N11,086,630,000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N2,512,214,530.71 with a balance of N8,574,415,469.29. The State claimed to have cleared all outstanding salaries as at 18th February, 2016.
8) Kebbi State – total debt value accrued from staff salaries and emoluments is N8,778,594,714.78. The State received N7,080,000,000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N2,617,152,577.20 with a balance of N4,462,847,422.80. A careful examination of the documents submitted to the Commission shows lot of conflicting figures. The State claimed to have cleared all outstanding salaries as at September, 2015.
9) Kogi State claimed not to have received bailout funds approved for the State by the Federal Government as at 8th August, 2015.
10) Nasarawa State received N8,317,167,368.87 in two tranches of N3,956,047,519.60 and N4,361,119,848.27 as bailout fund and disbursed N3,956,047,519.60 with a balance of N4,361,119,848.27. The State claimed not to have paid Local Government Workers’ salaries due to an on-going verification exercise.
11) Niger State received N4,396,810,000.00 as bailout fund and the entire amount was claimed to have been expended in off-setting salary debts.
12) Ondo State – total debt value accrued from staff salaries and emoluments was put at N23,151,324,517.39. The State received N9,443,059,226.92 as bailout fund and disbursed N7,905,484,176.60 with a balance of N1,537,575,050.32. The State owes one-month salary and several months arrears of gratuity/pension as at 30th September, 2015.
13) Osun State received N34,988,990,000.00 as bailout fund. N18,677,224,582.20 was disbursed leaving a balance of N16,311,765,417.80 billion as at November, 2015. The Commission is verifying allegations that Osun State Public Servants have only been paid salaries up to July, 2015.
14) Ogun State received N18,916,208,664.86 as bailout fund. The State claimed to have expended the entire sum for salary arrears and does not owe workers as at 9th October, 2015.
15) Plateau State – total debt value accrued from staff salaries and emoluments of N5,090,251,996.39. The State received N5,357,570,000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N5,330,589,061.15 with a balance of N26,980,938.85. The State owes two-months salaries as at 30th September, 2015.
16) Sokoto State – total debt value accrued from staff salaries and emoluments including pension, severance and gratuity of N3,488,111,165.77. The State was granted N10,093,370,000.00 as bailout fund and was yet to disburse as at the 19th October, 2015.
17) Kwara State received the sum of N4,320,950,000.00 as bailout fund and disbursed N4,291,087,985.08 for staff salaries and emoluments with a balance of N29,862,014.92. The State claimed to have cleared all outstanding salaries as at 20th October, 2015.
18) Bayelsa State applied for the sum of N1,285,000,000.00 and had concluded disbursement formalities but the Central Bank of Nigeria was yet to release the said fund to the State as at 18th December, 2015.
19) Imo State applied for and received bailout funds of N26,806,430,000.00 from Central Bank of Nigeria which were domiciled with two commercial banks namely Fidelity and Zenith Banks and disbursed N22,806,430,000.00 for staff salaries and emoluments.. In the course of analysis, it was discovered that some transfers were made into certain Imo state Government accounts which are not related to salaries and emoluments as follow:
i. N2 Billion into a Government House Account
ii. N2 Billion into an Imo State Project Account.
iii. N2 Billion transferred to a Micro-Finance bank.
iv. A management fee of N21, 017,810.00 was paid to unspecified account.
20) Zamfara State requested for the Sum of N32,512,495,183.27 bail-out funds and received the Sum of N10,020,952,964.51. After careful analysis of the documents provided and interaction with the Nigerian Labour Leaders in Zamfara State by ICPC staff) it was revealed that the State was not owing Civil Servants and Pensioners any arrears as at the time the Federal Government released the bail-out funds.
The State Government in order to utilize the funds, made overture to the Zamfara State House of Assembly requesting to use the funds to settle some liabilities amounting to N10,020,751,072.98 as follows:
➢ Outstanding of payment to 14 LGS of the State: N4,262,560,629.83
➢ Outstanding payment of fertilizer for 2014 farming season: N3,056,300,000.00
➢ Outstanding certificate for construction of Bungudu-Nahuche Kyabarawa Road 22.6Km: N265,256,342.76
➢ Outstanding certificate of Hostel Block at Abdu Gusau Polytechnic, T/Mafara: N55,000,000.00
➢ Payment of outstanding cost of Vehicles supplied to State: N319,430,000.00
➢ Outstanding certificate of construction work at K/Namoda Juma’at Mosque: N20,479,100.39
➢ Outstanding certificate of construction work at Emir’s Palace, Gusau: N6,020,000.00
➢ Share of 14 Local Government Councils Bailout: N2,035,705,000.00
The Zamfara State House of Assembly passed a resolution for the utilization of the funds on the above items which was communicated to the Secretary to the State Government vide letter ZMHA/LEG/089/V.1/13 dated 31st August, 2015.
21) Enugu State has a total debt value accrued from Staff Salaries and emoluments of N13,764,622,723.38 and N23, 279,099,157.58 as domestic debt. The State was granted N10,174,238,681.19 as bailout fund as at 16th November 2015. Analysis of the documents submitted revealed that, the State disbursed N5, 967,238,681.19 from the bailout fund to settle domestic debts and claimed that funds for the payments of Staff salaries and emoluments was not yet assessed.
22). Oyo State total debt value accrued from Staff salaries and Emoluments is N26,606,944,831.03. The State was granted N26,606,944,831.03 as bailout fund and disbursed N25,495,292,422.63 with a balance of N1,111,652,408.40. The State owes Four Months salaries as at 7th April, 2016.
23). Delta State has a total debt value accrued from Staff salaries and emoluments of N36,417,217,601.53. The State was granted N10,936,799,299.36 as bailout fund and disbursed N8,129,888,279.86 with a balance of N2,806,911,019.50. However, the state claimed not to owe salaries as at 24th November, 2015.
NOTE:
1. The Report indicate findings at the dates indicated above for each State. Subsequent changes may have taken place thereafter which the various States and Nigerian Labour Congress are at liberty to bring to our notice for verification and further comments as the need arises.
2. This Report has been published to assist all parties eliminate unsubstantiated allegations and promote peaceful negotiations and understanding in the management of government processes.
3. This Report comes under ICPC Prevention mandate and States are welcome to use this Initiative.
Signed: Edet Ufot
For: Commissioner, Public Enlightenment /Spokesperson for the Commission