Rt. Hon. Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu State Governor |
Gburugburu,
as the governor is popularly known as, made this announcement during an
enlarged meeting with labour leaders in the state. He stated that the essence
of the meeting was to intimate the labour leaders with the efforts to procure
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) bailout funds to liquidate part of the debts,
adding that it was important that the workers were carried along to determine
the best ways to disburse the fund.
In the
governor’s own words: “The essence of this meeting is
for you to know that we have formally applied for the sum of N4.2 billion for
the purpose of defraying debts owed workers in the core ministries. We want you
to interface with your colleagues in other states to recommend ways the funds
will be managed when it arrives. We have been consistent in the payment of
salaries and subventions because we understand that you have to pay salaries to
activate the economy of the state. We do not have money and if we must continue
to do our projects we need to get money from somewhere.
“We
intend to look for funds that will attract single digit interests and that way
we can restructure within the life of this administration. We promised you
accountability at all times and it is important to point out that workers in
the local government areas are not covered by this N4.2 billion bailout fund.”
To buttress the
governor’s points, the Accountant General of the state, Mr. Pascal Okolie, stated that the bailout was to pay one month’s
arrears of pensions, salaries of non-permanent workers and subventions owed the
government agencies. According to him, Enugu State owes the sum of N9.6 billion
in gratuities and pensions, N1.8 billion in salaries and N1.46 billion in
subventions to the agencies.
In his
response, Mr. Virginus Nwobodo, who
is the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, thanked the
governor for being straightforward in the deliberations. According to him, they
are aware of the financial challenges in the country. However, he expressed
worry that the bailout fund was inadequate to liquidate the debts owed the
workers.
In his own
words: “The economic situation of workers and
pensioners in the state is pitiable. Some pensioners have not received pension
and gratuity for upwards of 10 years and 20 years. Some have died prematurely
while the wives of some of the men have left due to their inability to provide
for their homes. There is need to set up a technical committee to work out the
modalities for the disbursement of the funds.”
In his own
speech, the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr. Chukwu Igbokwe, stated that the union would release the
detailed of debts owed every worker in the state. He said that it was worrisome
that some workers had been on half salary for the past three years, while
others were owed 36 months of their 50 per cent salaries.
He said: “We want to implore the government to ameliorate this
situation even if the payment will be staggered. We, therefore, appeal that
this technical committee that will oversee the disbursement of the bailout fund
should go beyond the disbursement of the N4.2 billion and see how all debts
owed workers will be paid.”
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