One hopes that as this money is
released, the story we would hear from all the states is that these hapless
Nigerians have been paid ALL the arrears of salary owed them to enable them see
the extent they would go to sort out their horribly battered existence – lives
that have been heartlessly messed up by the gross irresponsibility and
unspeakable callousness that now constitute the enduring character of
governance in this part of the world.
The recent N400 billion bailout
approved for the states by President Muhammadu Buhari to offset the backlog of
salary owed to civil servants would certainly bring immense relief to the
affected workers and their families. It is difficult to imagine how these
Nigerians were able to survive the trauma and pain of existing for several
months without salaries, especially how, when one considers that even when
these salaries were
paid regularly and as at when due, they were hardly enough
to solve even the basic needs of these public servants. In some cases, we have
husbands and wives as state employees, and one is sincerely scared of imagining
how life has been for them and their children these past few months.
One hopes that as this money is
released, the story we would hear from all the states is that these hapless
Nigerians have been paid ALL the arrears of salary owed them to enable them see
the extent they would go to sort out their horribly battered existence – lives
that have been heartlessly messed up by the gross irresponsibility and
unspeakable callousness that now constitute the enduring character of governance
in this part of the world.
Considering that we have just
emerged from an election in which many state governors were squandering money
as if all they did to get loads of it was just to walk to their backyards and
pluck them from some trees that generously grew them, Nigerians deserve to know
the exact reasons why these governors were unable to pay salaries.
In a place
like Osun State, for instance, state workers were heartlessly owed
salaries for about seven months. The state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, who
recently won a second term in a bitterly contested (and obviously unimaginably
expensive) election and who also may have equally contributed his own quota to
achieve the “change” that now exists in Aso Rock must be compelled to
tell Nigerians how his state achieved such an unimaginable descent.
Why would a human being with a heart
and blood running in his veins loudly advertise such unspeakable heartlessness
by subjecting his fellow human beings to such horrendous trauma? Indeed,
journalists and rights activists must thoroughly
investigate Osun State and let us know if there were people
among Osun workers who were unable to survive Aregbesola’s seven months of
terror. He must be held personally responsible and compelled to pay compensation
to their families. This would equally apply to those unpaid workers who had
lost children because they were unable to send them to the hospital when they
took ill. Human rights lawyers in the State should assist these victims of
state terror to organize and institute a class suit against the Osun governor
to demand compensation for the grievous harm done to them, to serve as
deterrent to other governors.
For too long, our governors have
always got away with anything they elect to do, no matter how hideous, leaving
the citizenry to bear alone the pain and anguish of their failure of character
and leadership. We also want to know whether during these seven harrowing
months, Aregbesola’s own salaries and allowances were duly paid or that he was
in any way getting money or any form of support from the state to keep his
beard luxuriant and ensure that his family continued to wallow in the same dose
of excessive luxury that egregiously distinguishes elected public officers in
this clime.
President Buhari must be wary of behaving
as if the money he just doled out came from his pocket. The N413.7 billion
belongs to Nigerians, and despite the ongoing war of words between the All
Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the exact
source of the money, Nigerians deserve to know what exactly happened in the
states that hampered their ability to pay salaries despite the allocations that
flowed to them monthly from the Federation Account. Why did some governors not
take adequate responsibility for the boundless financial recklessness and
prodigality that obviously plunged their states into such humongous mess? Even
some of them that handed over to themselves (by virtue of winning their
reelections) and those whose tenures were yet to elapse had also joined their
colleagues to chant the exasperating chorus that they met empty treasuries when
they reported for duty after the May 29 inaugurations of new administrations
across the country. So, who then emptied the state treasuries?
Indeed, if no governor is made to
account for what happened in the states at this time, then all the claims by
this regime that it came to “block leakages and enthrone accountability” should
be seen for what they truly are: shameless, puerile lies. In fact, there is no
“change” anywhere. Indeed, the APC, like someone said recently, is just the PDP
with a broom! What Buhari has done, therefore, was to merely use the
money that could have been judiciously deployed to make a difference in the
lives of long-suffering Nigerians to reward mindless profligacy flourishing in
the states.
It is most painful that while
workers writhed in the excruciating pain of unpaid salaries, the governors
still lived large, squandering public funds as if they were going out of
fashion. While other governors further drained the purse of their states by
acquiring or hiring and hopping about in private jets, Aregbesola opted for the
“modest” option of buying himself a helicopter in a state where workers were in
grievous pain due to seven months unpaid salaries.
It is not as if these governors did
not have such models like former governor Peter Obi of Anambra
State who saw being a governor as just an opportunity to render sterling
service to the people to learn from. At a time, Obi was almost the only governor
one could meet queuing at airports to board an aircraft like any other
passenger (and he mostly flew economy class) while his colleagues, some of whom
would not have qualified to serve as his P.A. in any of his companies before
they became governors hopped about in private jets and wallowed in unspeakable
profligacy. No wonder, instead of bequeathing months of unpaid salaries and
huge debts to his successor, Obi, reportedly, left him about N74 billion in
money and investments.
I think that Buhari, the APC and the
PDP should in the interest of the country transcend party lines and
occasionally collaborate to convoke special reorientation sessions for the
governors and other public officers, and bring the likes of Peter Obi to
lecture them on the right mind to adopt as public officers and judicious
management of resources. Maybe this will begin the process of purging our
governors and other elected officials of their largely prodigal and profligate
propensities and imbue them with the capacity to duly appreciate the strategic
and sacred nature of the jobs they have been called upon (and lavishly paid) to
execute for the good of the country and its people. Perhaps then they would
begin to appreciate that their assignment requires gravity of mind and not an
opportunity to loudly advertise unparalleled light-mindedness and
light-fingeredness.
*Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye is a Nigerian
journalist and writer (scruples2@hotmail.com).
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