President Buhari made the promise in Abuja after his meeting with the state governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), which presented him with a fiscal restructuring plan, asking for a review of the nation’s revenue sharing formula that would put more money in the coffers of the states.
The governors, who met with the president at the Presidential Villa, subsequently asked for an additional 18-month moratorium on their subsisting debts.
A statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, after the meeting, quoted Buhari as saying that the dire financial situation the states found themselves was of great concern to him.
Buhari said he was worried that nearly two-thirds of the states of the federation were still having difficulties with salary payments despite the federal government’s bailout.
He said he very disturbed by the hardship which state government workers across the country and their families were going through due to the non-payment of salaries, adding that the federal government would strive to make more funds available to the states by expediting action on refunds due to them for the repairs and construction of federal roads and other expenses incurred on behalf of the federal government.
Buhari also said that he would establish an inter-ministerial committee to study the Fiscal Restructuring Plan for the Federation which was presented to him by the governors.
The president said that the committee would review the plan to improve the finances of the state governments and make recommendations on how proposals in the plan should be dealt with by the presidency, Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the National Assembly through legislation.
However, Buhari reminded 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 the governors.
Chairman of the NGF, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, and 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.
According to Yari, 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 would help them to deal with their funding problems on short, medium and long-term bases.
They said if the plan is adopted and implemented by the federal government, states of the federation would become financially empowered to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after the meeting, Yari, said in the short-term, the governors were looking at a situation whereby “our debts that have been hanging since 2005 right from Obasanjo’s exit of the Paris Club are paid. These are some of the monies that were not paid before. If they are paid, some of the states that are having financial difficulties now can get money from there.”
He also said that the states would like their loans to be restructured.
“Today we have received support from the federal government in terms of a bailout, restructuring of our debts, and giving us 15 per cent of the Excess Crude Account for development.
“We are also asking for 18 months moratorium on our loans before we can start paying, so that we would be able to strategise,” he added.
Saying all these were temporary measures, Yari explained that each state has short, medium and long-term programmes, which had been presented to Buhari, adding that the president had graciously accepted and agreed to set up a committee that would look at the matter.
The governor said the committee would have as members: the president, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
He said Fashola would be on the committee because he headed a similar committee on the review of revenue formula as a member of the NGF in 2012.
Yari said states cannot raise internally generated revenues overnight, but have to develop a long-term programme to achieve more efficient collection of revenue in their respective domains.
He said the work force of states had exploded and there was nothing they could do about it because people earn their daily bread from the jobs.
On the allegation by the Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun that the state governors did not save for the rainy days, hence the current financial crisis, Yari said: “States only take 26 per cent of the Federation Account, whereas the federal government gets 52 per cent and you are asking us to save?
“Anyway, I doubt if the minister made that statement. It is coming from the media. The truth remains that the states are taking 26 per cent and the federal government 52 per cent, what are they doing with the money?”
On the demand by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for an increase of the minimum wage to N56,000, Yari said the union was right.
“We agree what they are being paid is too small but they must understand the situation the country is in, because from where we are deriving our resources is now lower by 60 per cent. So how do we do the magic? But we are going to do our best,” he said.
