Hope for workers, pensioners as Govs agree to clear arrears with 2nd Paris Club refund

The chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Zamfara State governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, on Friday said that the 36 governors of the county have resolved to offset salaries of workers with the second tranche of Paris Club refund.

He said it was their collective agreement to offset workers’ outstanding salaries and pensions in their respective states as soon
as the next tranche of payment from the Paris-London Club loan refunds were made to them.

He made this known in a statement on Friday by Mr Abulrazque Barkindo, Head of Media and Public Affairs, NGF Secretariat.

According to the statement, the governors reached at the decision after their meeting in Abuja on Thursday night.

The governors had met in anticipation of the release of the money, said to have been approved for payment by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

Yari, who said that the governors were not ignorant of the cry over non-payment of backlog of salaries and pensions by Nigerian workers, said they deliberated on the matter and arrived at the conclusion that something urgent needs to be done to ameliorate workers’ plight by offsetting the outstanding pay and emoluments.

He said, “We all agreed that a substantial amount from the next tranche of the Paris-London refunds be used in the settlement of workers salary and pension arrears.”

Read also: Why Osinbajo is yet to sign the 2017 budget

Yari further noted that the governors were also committed to ensure that all the consultants who claimed to have worked towards the harmonisation of the refunds were verified in order to know the input
they made.

The claim, the governor said, was in regards of what was due to each state since 2005 when the demand for the refunds began.

“At the moment, there are litigations from more than 10 different consultants still agitating for settlement for their roles in the
quest to have the refunds made to states,‘’ he said.Out of the N522.74billion owed, N388.304 was paid to states in December, 2016.

 

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