That well-deserved ‘Riots Act’

For the third time since his return from medical leave in the UK, President Muhammadu Buhari has given me a reason to give him a standing ovation. The first time was his outing at the UN general assembly in September, the second was on the 1st of October, when he joined our troops at the […]

For the third time since his return from medical leave in the UK, President Muhammadu Buhari has given me a reason to give him a standing ovation. The first time was his outing at the UN general assembly in September, the second was on the 1st of October, when he joined our troops at the front-line of the insurgency, in Borno State, to celebrate our national day with them; and the third was just last Wednesday when Mr President read the Riots’ Act to certain state governors, for failing to pay their workers several months worth of salaries.

We woke up to news headlines like ‘Buhari blasts governors over unpaid salaries’ and my heart leaped with joy that PMB is really spotlighting on the things that matter. For sure, the story of state workers is a sad one but what makes it inexcusable is that the Federal government had thrice gone to the rescue of state governments, to enable them discharge their obligations. 

It was indeed heartening to hear President Buhari ask: ‘How can anyone go to bed and sleep soundly when workers have not been paid their salaries for months?’ 

This is the very question some of us have been asking because leaders with conscience are not supposed to be comfortable with leaving their workers destitute.

The fact that some states owed their workers over a year’s salary and their pensioners even more than that, is what exposes some governors as having policies that put their people last. They really have no concern about the plight of the common man and have grown immune to their suffering. 

Unlike them however, PMB has empathy for the men and women who wake up everyday and go to state secretariats and other offices, to ensure that the machinery of state is kept going. Hear him: ‘I actually wonder how the workers feed their families, pay their rents and even pay school fees for their children.’ 

He added that ‘God has been merciful in hearing the prayers of his servants, so the rainy season has been good, you can ask the Kebbi state governor on this and our enormous food importation bill has gone down…’ But the impact of this divine mercy cannot be felt unless the workers are paid their dues.

At the meeting, which was attended by several state governors and a few deputies, the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state, tried to justify their failure to pay workers and pensioners by claiming that many of them inherited a backlog of unpaid salaries and other debts. Mr President must not buy this excuse because the three bailouts from the Federation account and through the Paris Club funds were disbursed to address just that. Where were the funds diverted to? In any case he is a second term governor, is he saying that he should be excused for carrying the financial liabilities from his first term to his second term?

Governor Yari also told newsmen, after the meeting, that the intervention funds have reached the 200 million Nigerians resident in all parts of Nigeria. In his own words: “200 million Nigerians are residing in respective states, these supports are going down to them when you are taking the indices from the grassroots.” Yet the evidence cannot be seen in the lives of the people at the grassroots. The governors have neither paid their workers and pensioners nor did they create poverty alleviation mechanisms to help ease the pangs of hunger occasioned by the economic recession that was caused by falling crude oil prices. 

I entirely agree with the general secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Peter Ezon, who said that the problem of the defaulting governors is that they failed to put their priorities right. For sure, if these state governments considered paying workers a priority, they would have done it, since there are states that have successfully paid their workers after the three interventions, and are no longer owing anyone. 

Such states include Jigawa and Kebbi where both workers and pensioners are not being owed anything. Their payments are up to date. Governors Badaru Abubakar and Atiku Bagudu deserve honourable mention by Mr President for standing up to their people. Governors Aminu Masari of Katsina and Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Abdulfattah Ahmed of Kwara, as well as Ra’uf Aregbesola of Osun, deserve thumbs up for being up to date with salaries but lagging behind in the payment of gratuities. 

As for the rest of the governors, whom reports say have a shortfall of a month or several months, President Buhari must hinge their receipt of any more funds on their ability to clear the backlog of salaries and arrears they owe their workers. The attempt they made to solicit for the 50% remaining Paris Club funds, as voiced by Zamfara Governor must be ignored until they account for all that they received earlier, since they have little to show for it. 

Mr President must know that his administration is being judged by the performance of his governors. If there is poverty and hunger in the states, people do not blame it on the governors who have their priorities wrong, they blame it on the federal government on whom they have great expectations. In fact here, in the North, the economic recession is known as Buhariyya because people see it as a by-product of the Buhari government.

The good initiatives and economic efforts of this administration can only trickle down to the people when the governors start to put them first and work for their benefit. This is why Mr President must call these governors to account regularly, even if this means reading the Riots Act to them every month.