Tag Archives: bailout funds

EXCLUSIVE: Detailed Breakdown Of How Osun State Spent Bailout Fund.

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Following accusations from the opposition party in Osun state that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola mismanaged the bailout funds allocated to the state some months back. Further pressure has been put on the governor to provide the public with detailed analysis of how funds from the bailout were expended.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Osun state chapter, recently said it was ready to assist the Senate in its probe into how bailout out funds collected by Osun state government was utilized.

The PDP in a statement by its spokesperson, Prince Diran Odeyemi in Osogbo, said Osun state got highest amount of money as bailout but squandered it on phony contracts.

The party declared that Governor Aregbesola allegedly actually diverted the bail out funds meant to pay workers salaries to pay some Lagos based contractors which also included a highly placed official in President Buhari’s administration.

In response to the offer and accusations, the Osun State House of Assembly made available to Omojuwa.Com a detailed document which encapsulates the analytical breakdown of how bailout funds were expended by the Osun StateGovernor.

Below is a copy of the document obtained by Omojuwa.Com for public perusal and scrutiny:

 

 

STATE OF OSUN HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, OSOGBO

REPORT OF THE INVESTIGATION CONDUCTED IN RESPECT OF THE UTILISATION OF BAIL-OUT LOAN RELEASED TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT OF OSUN IN THE YEAR 2015 BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA

PREAMBLE

In order to address the issue of inability of some States in the country to pay salary of workers as a result of dwindling allocation from the Federation Account, the Federal Government took the decision to arrange a loan for some States, including Osun, with concessionary terms of payment. The loan was guaranteed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

One of the minimum conditions stipulated for the drawdown of the bail-out fund was the provision of the approval of the State House of Assembly, authorizing the borrowing. Hence, series of correspondence were exchanged between the House of Assembly and the Executive arm of Government on the State’s desire for the bail-out loan. The correspondence, marked as Annexure I, are as follows:

State Governor’s request letters No. AD.2/380/Vol.V/27 and AD.2/380/Vol.V/37 of 27thJuly, 2015 and 13th August, 2015 respectively.

House approval letters No.LM.16 Vol.111/294 of 28thJuly, 2015 and LM.16 Vol.IV/6-9 of 14th August, 2015.

APPROVAL AND RELEASE OF THE BAIL-OUT LOAN

The request for the sum of N88,215,468,757.27 which comprised N64,327,492,947.01 and N23,887,975,810.26 for State and Local Governments respectively was forwarded to the Central Bank of Nigeria in July, 2015.

However, the sum of N34,988,990,000,covering N25,871,920,000 and N9,117,070,000 for State and Local Governments respectively was actually approved and released by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the State Government of Osun in August, 2015. The approval letters are hereby attached as Annexure II

UTILISATION OF THE FUND

The utilization of the approved fund in respect of the State Government are as stated below:

Actual amount received = N25,871,920,000.00

Payment made in respect of salaries and allowances of State Government Workers

(Civil Servants and Teachers) = N20,651,082,846.25

Payment made in respect of pensions for the retired Civil Servants and

Teachers= N5,212,057,964.89

Accrued Bank Charges= N5,426,154.60

Total amount spent=N25,868,566,925.74

Balance= N3,353,034.26

Details of the payment made, including copies of certified Bank Statements, are attached as Annexure III

The utilization of the approved fund in respect of the Local Governments are as stated below:

Actual amount received=N9,117,070,000.00

Payment made in respect of salaries and allowances of staff of Local Govern-ments and Primary School Teachers = N7,789,943,410.92

Payment made in respect of pensions for the retired workers of Local Governments and Primary School Teachers =N1,147,237,318.66

Accrued Bank Charges= N6,662,480.97

Total amount spent=N8,943,843,210.55

Balance=N173,226,789.45

Details of the payment made, including copies of certified Bank Statements, are attached as Annexure IV.

EFFORTS MADE BY THE HOUSE IN TRACKING THE UTILISATION OF THE BAIL-OUT LOAN

 

 

4.1 Series of efforts were made by the House of Assembly to track the utilisation of the bail-out loan released to the State Government of Osun. A letter emanated from the House of Assembly with reference No.LM.94/Vol.IV/277 dated 12th November, 2015 was forwarded to the State Accountant-General, requesting forcertain information concerning the bail-out loan, among other things. The rejoinder to the letter under reference was received by the Honourable House from the State Accountant- General with reference No. AGC.256/Vol.XII/197 and dated 23rd November, 2015. The two correspondence are hereby attached as Annexure V.

4.2 Moreover, at the House plenary of Wednesday, 30th November, 2016, the Chairman, Finance and Appropriation Committee, under Matter of Urgent Public Importance raised the issue of the disbursement of the bail-out loan in the State and called on the House to thoroughly investigate the matter in view of the hues and cries which it had generated in many quarters.

4.3 Consequently, at the House plenary of Wednesday, 7th December, 2016, a public hearing was conducted on the matter during which all relevant authorities, including labour leaders, Civil Society & Non-Governmental Organisations, market men and women were in attendance.

Copies of the Votes and Proceedings of the two plenary sittings are hereby attached as Annexure VI.

FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS OF THE HOUSE

5.1 As a result of the investigation and series of efforts carried out by the State House of Assembly, the following findings and observations were made: that the so-called “bail-out fund” was a loan with a tenor of 240 months (20 years) and concessionary interest rate of 9% per annum(all inclusive on reducing balance) in accordance with the Central Bank of Nigeria letter reference No.GVD/SA/GEN/ABP/02/006 dated August 10, 2015; that the size of the bail-out loan approved and released for the State Government of Osun by the Central Bank of Nigeria was less than the amount requested for; that no specific period was stipulated to cover the utilization of the loan; that full salaries(100%) for the months of March to June 2015 were paid to workers in both the State and Local Government Services as well as pensioners from the loan; that payment of arrears of December 2014 salary and allowances of staffers of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology(LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, Osogbo was made from the loan; that the deposit Banks for the bail-out loan were First Bank ofNigeria Ltd. and Wema Bank Plc. for State Government portion and Zenith Bank Plc. for Local Governments portion; that all transactions made on the bail-out loan were solely for the payment of salaries, allowances, pensions and other salary-related expenses; and
that the sum ofN176,579,823.71was the current Bank balance in respect of the bail-out loan as analysed below:

State Government:

First Bank of Nig. Ltd. – N2,040,415.07

Wema Bank Plc.– N1,312,619.19

Sub-Total N3,353,034.26

 

Local Governments:

Zenith Bank Plc -N173,226,789.45

Grand Total – N176,579,823.71

CONCLUSION

6.1 Based on the findings and observations enumerated in paragraph 5(i)-(viii) as well as series of facts and figures made available to this Honourable House, the sum of N34,988,990,000.00,which was approved and released as bail-out loan to the State Government of Osun by the Federal Government of Nigeria in the year 2015, was judiciously utilized.

………………………………………………………………………

Hon. Kamil Temitope Oyedele Hon. Olalekan Rasheed Afolabi Chairman, Finance & Appropriation Chairman, Public Accounts Committee Committee

Enugu State Yet To Access Bailout Funds From FG – Ugwuanyi

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Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has said that the state government has not accessed the bailout funds from the Federal Government.
Ugwuanyi, spoke on Tuesday at the flag-off of four major roads in Enugu, said insinuations from some quarters that the state government received the money was false.
“We have not received money in the name of bailout or anything from the Federal Government.
“We must thank the members of the House of Assembly for their cooperation in approving funds for this project,” he said.
He said that the project was borne out of the desire to fulfill his campaign and inaugural speech promises.
“During our campaign and inauguration, we did promise to commit the state resources to better the lots of our people.
“We pledged to aggressively address all issues militating against the development of the state, take necessary steps to ease the difficulties and hardship encountered by our people,” he said.
The governor said that the Abakpa Nike and Nike Lake roads were strategic to the economy of the state, but expressed regrets that they were in such deplorable state.
“We listed the roads among the first eight major roads to be reconstructed by the state government and proceeded to award contracts to that effect.
“It will offer our people relief from excruciating traffic congestion and other setbacks occasioned by their deplorable state.
“They will also assist us in our urban-rural agricultural industrial development as well as enhance business activities here and beyond.’’
Ugwuanyi said that the government was committed to a timely completion of the roads in spite of the prevailing economic situation in the state.

 
Also, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Edward Ubosi, said that he was delighted that the governor had given priority to the Abapka- Nike and Nike Lake roads.
Ubosi said that the roads when completed would be a big relief to commuters whose usage of the roads had been miserable.
“You don’t know what you have done for the people by constructing this road. It takes between 30 minutes and one hour for one to get off this road due to traffic gridlock,” Ubosi said.
He said the immediate past governor of the state did so well in building road infrastructure in the state, adding that Ugwuanyi had taken a bold step to surpass the record.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Works, Mr Patrick Ikpenwa, said that the caliber of contractors lined up for the project was a clear testimony that the governor meant well for the people.
Ikpenwa appealed to residents of the area to identify with and guard the projects for durability as government would not tolerate cutting of the roads after completion without authorisation.
“All those things that will amount to abuse of the road like burning of tyres, dumping of refuse, and illegal setting up of speed breakers should be completely resisted by you,” Ikpenwa said.
The other roads flagged-off by the governor, included the Amankwo-Amaeke -Ama Brewery Junction Bye-pass Road and the 9th Corner Bye-pass Road.

 

Credit : Vanguard

We Have No Business With Your Bailout Funds, Sort Yourself Out With CBN, APC Tells Kogi Govt.

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as cheap blackmail the decision by the Kogi State government and the PDP Governors’ Forum to blame political interference for the delay in releasing bailout funds for the state.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it had no business with the release or otherwise of the bailout funds to Kogi state.
”This accusation is in line with the new-found propensity of the PDP to blame everyone but itself for the woes that have befallen the party in recent times. If the opposition party is not accusing the APC of colluding with the judiciary over the election petition cases, it is accusing the ruling party of colluding with the CBN over bailout funds. This is sickening,” it said.
APC said the Kogi State Government should go and sort itself out with the CBN, if indeed it wants to get the bailout funds.
”Our investigations have revealed that the Kogi State Government has not been able to justify the over 50 billion Naira it is asking for as bailout funds. It is curious that the chunk of the funds which the state is asking for, over 40 billion Naira, is for the payment of the salaries of Local Government workers.
”The state is saying the backlog of salaries owed to these categories of workers dates back to 2011.
How can that be, when Nigeria was not even broke in 2011? How can the state be owing Local Government workers when it has been collecting 2.2 billion Naira monthly in allocation for Local Governments, amounting to over 100 billion Naira in four years? What happened to the Local Government allocations collected by the state if it is owing LG workers since 2011?
”The figures and explanations tendered by the Kogi State Government to justify the request for 50.8 billion Naira in bailout funds are not tenable, especially because only 4.9 billion Naira of the amount is for the payment of workers in the state civil service.
”Nigerians should bear in mind that the bailout funds are not for anything beyond the payment of workers’ salaries. The onus is therefore on the Kogi State Government to justify its request for 50.8 billion Naira, and to assure the CBN that the state is not seeing the funds as slush money. It is the failure to do just that, rather than any so-called political interference, that has denied the state government of accessing the funds so far,” the party said.
APC reminded the PDP Governors’ Forum, which has been quick to jump into the fray without doing its own due diligence, that the initiative to bail the states out of their inability to pay workers’ salaries was at the instance of the Buhari Administration, and meant to provide much-needed relief to the workers.
”Therefore, it does not make sense for anyone to accuse the ruling party or an agency of the same government of frustrating the release of the funds. Kogi State has no one but itself to blame for the quagmire in which it has found itself over the bailout funds,” the party said.

 

Credit : Vanguard

No Governor Got Bailout For Workers’ Salaries – Oshiomhole

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Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has said that none of the 36 state governors had received his state’s share of the N713.7bn bailout fund from the Federal Government.

The fund is a relief to cash-strapped states, many of which owe workers salaries.

Oshiomhole, who disclosed this to journalists shortly after a reception in honour of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, at Sabongida Ora, in Owan West Local Government Area of the state on Saturday, explained that while he was unaware of any disbursement, there were conversations going on between the governors and the Federal Government.

He added that President Muhammadu Buhari had been “extremely positive” in recognising that he did not want to preside over a country whose workers were not paid.

He said that the President was also concerned about the expenditure of the states as well as measures aimed at the effective management of their resources.

The governor said, “It doesn’t matter who is responsible for it; but at the end of the day, it is simply not acceptable to have a situation in which about 13, 14, 15 states for two, three, four, five, sometimes, one year, people have not been paid. He (President Buhari) is angry over that and he is ready to work do-able programmes to deal with that and then, going forward, to look at the structural issues in the expenditure pattern of states, because, you see, nobody ever has enough.

“The basic law of economics is that resources are scarce in relation to our wants. So, who gets what done has to be a matter of creativity, of priority and of proper costing and project management.

“So, I think the good news is that the President is there to stand by us in finding solution beyond cash giving. Nobody has gotten any one dime. But there is always a time lag between when you conceptualise a solution, when you think through it, when you reach a conclusion and when it begins to manifest.

“So for now, no governor, no government has gotten any one naira under the bailout. But the hope is there. The President is determined and we are all working to see that it is done in a way that it benefits the target group, which is that no Nigerian worker should go home at the end of the month without getting a positive alert from his banker.”

Oshiomhole, who was part of the delegation to the United States last week, described the outcome of the meeting with the US President, Barack Obama, as a demonstration of commitment to the development of Nigeria as Africa’s most populous nation.

“I think in the history of our country, Americans have not shown that amount of worth and I was with the President when he visited President (Barack) Obama and we were all present at the conversation and I have not seen an American president talking in the manner that President Obama did.

“I mean, when a President says to you, ‘In the next 18 months, use me; get us to do any of the things. We will go as far as you will allow us to go.’ We recognise that if Nigeria’s problems are solved, the African continent will be stable and if we can fix Nigeria, we would have fixed Africa and he (Obama) recognised that if it goes the other way round, there are also huge challenges for the continent.”

He added, “It is like politics is not different from business; it is about perceptions. If the world, using President Obama’s language, believes correctly that our President is a man of integrity; then all things become easy. Leadership is about integrity; once the people cannot trust you, it does not matter what your intentions are.

“But if they trust you, they are more likely to follow you through challenges and to claim ownership of public policies that you need to introduce in order to deal with the problem that confronts us.”

Source – punchng.com