Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who is also the chairman o f t he National Economic Council (NEC) and Abdulazeez Yari, governor of Zamfara State , who is chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, met yesterday over the pending special bailout package from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to states of the federation.
At the inaugural meetingof the NEC, President Muhammadu Buhari had approved a special intervention fund, in form of a soft loan of between ₦250 billion and ₦300 billion solely for the purpose of clearing the backlog of unpaid salaries in about 18 states.
The three tiers of government have since shared about $2.1 billion (₦413.7bn) being proceeds from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas to the Federation Account, as part of the president’s approved bailout.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had also directed state commissioners for finance to ensure that their states access the special intervention fund.
Fielding questions from journalists at the Presidential Villa, after meeting with the Vice President, Yari said he had come to follow up on the plans of the CBN, asst ates were still struggling to pay salaries.
“In our last meeting with the president, we agreed in the National Economic Council that there will be a special intervention from the Federal for the states that cannot be able to foot their salary arrears to their workers.
“So, I follow up with the chairman of the NEC to know how far they have gone with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Both the states and Federal government were affected by the unpaid salaries. Because this issue of unpaid salaries is not only for the states, even the Federal Governmentis suffering the same thing.
“So, therefore, we follow up to know how far they have gone with the CBN governor” Yari told journalists .
The CBN governor is currently in Washington DC alongside five state governors as part of the president’s entourage.
“Immediat e ly he comes back, we are going to take up the matter to see the end of the issue of unpaid salaries to workers” Yari added.
Speaking on the war against terror, Yari said the country was facing a guerri l la si tuation, “checking the bombs and dislodging the suicide bombings” as the Boko Haram members could no longer be found in the forest.
“Now the Boko Haram cannot be found in any forest, or in any local government among the occupied local governments in Borno, Yobe or Adamawa states. You cannot find them” he said.
He said government and the security agencies are doing their best to ensure that peace is restored, adding that the government is going to put machinery in place, “most especially the military and security in place to ensure that the insurgency comes to an end”.
