The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum has cautioned the Central Bank of Nigeria against becoming ‘a political tool’ of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the release of bailout funds to states that deserve them.
According to the governors, the warning became necessary against the backdrop of allegations by some PDP governors of bottlenecks encountered in the release of the funds to them while, their counterparts have received theirs.
In a press statement in Abuja, Friday, signed by the coordinator of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Mr. Osaro Onaiwu, the governors accused the CBN of allowing itself to be dictated to by the ruling APC on which states should get the bailout.
They particularly wondered why Kogi State was not given despite having fulfilled all the requirements.
Onaiwu urged the CBN to insulate itself from politics and the control of the ruling party if it does not want to create political and financial crises in the country.
“How come almost all APC states that applied for bailout have gotten theirs but states like Kogi that have fulfilled all the requirements have been denied theirs with no explanation from the CBN?
“The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has to insulate the apex bank from the shenanigans of politicians to avoid serious political and economic dislocation in the country.
“It is important and urgent that the CBN releases the N50billion bailout due to Kogi to ease the suffering of the common people in the state.”
The development follows more allegations by the Governor Seriake Dickson’s Restoration Campaign Organization in Bayelsa which also accused the All progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva, of causing the delay in the release of the state’s N1.6 billion bailout fund.
The government had applied for the said fund to pay local government workers who are being owed six months salaries.
While the government had been paying workers in the state civil service till date, the local governments had been in default arising from liquidity crunch which informed the decision of the state government to intervene by applying for the bailout fund.
However, the workers would now have to wait till next year as it was alleged that Sylva, acting out a political plot to discredit the state government, might have caused the delay in the release of the fund.
The position of the RCO was contained in a statement yesterday by the Director of Publicity, Daniel Jonathan Obuabite, which insisted that political consideration was behind the delay of the funds which it also noted was affecting the welfare of the workers.
“It is on record that the Bayelsa State Government has kept faith with the payment of salaries to workers in the state civil service but the same cannot be said in the 8 local government areas in the state that are in default. This prompted the request for bailout. Unfortunately, while other states have received their own share of the bailout fund, that of Bayelsa is being delayed for political reasons”, the statement said.
The RCO observed that the situation in Bayelsa State is also playing out in Kogi State where workers are owed salaries because the government is also denied the bailout fund, a situation, it said, had pitched Governor Idris Wada, who is running for re-election against the workers who have now been forced to go on strike.
