The President, Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja expressed concern over inability of the states to pay salaries despite receiving bail-out from the Federal Government, reports ITRealms.
According to him, nearly two-thirds of states of the federation are still having difficulties
with salary payments.
Speaking at a meeting with
members of the Nigeria Governor Forum at the Presidential Villa, President
Buhari said that he was very disturbed by the
hardship which state government workers across the country and their families
were facing due to the non-payment of salaries.
To ameliorate the hardship being faced
by affected workers, the President said that the Federal Government will strive
to make more funds available to the states by expediting action on refunds due
to them for the maintenance of federal roads and other expenses incurred on
behalf of the Federal Government.
President Buhari also said
that he will establish an inter-ministerial committee to study a Fiscal
Restructuring Plan for the Federation which was presented to him by the
governors.
The President said that the
committee will review the plan to improve the finances of state governments and
make recommendations on how proposals in the plan should be dealt with by the
Presidency, the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly through
legislation.
SSA to the President on
Media and Publicity, Alhaji Garba Shehu in a press statement made available to ITRealms quoted President Buhari as urging the governors, to understand that while he was ready to do all within his powers to help the states overcome
their current financial challenges, the Federal Government also has funding
problems of its own to contend with.
"You all know the
problems we have found ourselves in. You have to bear with us," he told
them.
The Chairman of the
Governors Forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State and the Governor
Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, who chaired the committee that worked on the
Fiscal Restructuring Plan, asked the Federal Government to do more to help the
states financially.
The governors told the
President that while they had resolved to take other measures to boost their
internally-generated revenue, the implementation of the Fiscal Restructuring
Plan will help them to deal with their funding problems on short, medium and
long-term bases.
They said that if the plan
was adopted and implemented by the Federal Government, states of the federation
will become more financially empowered to fulfil their constitutional
responsibilities.
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