Open letter to Nigeria Governors’ Forum

“…I approached the President and the governors that we defer the loan deductions from the Federation Accounts entitlement….The aim of this is to ensure that we support them through this difficult  period to be able to meet salary obligations.” Minister of Finance, April 21, 2016.

Nigerian workers and their dependents now round the clock feel the lashes of hunger, unpaid rent, cars that cannot be maintained, kids’ school fees outstanding, and having to make do with traditional medicine instead of going to a clinic. That is now the situation in every state today and at the Federal level as well. Certainly, it was in a desperate attempt to rescue your states from bankruptcy that the Nigeria’s Governors’ Forum, NGF, approached the Federal Government for a bail-out late last year. Most states were recipients of various amounts, ostensibly, to pay accumulated salaries owed to their workers. Some of us warned at the time about two unintended consequences of that plea for assistance. One, it had made the states more dependent on the Federal Government, which was not established as a bank. Two, it would probably not solve the problem permanently because the causes of the financial distress, in which the states find themselves had not been addressed at all. Consequently, it would not take long before the states are back, cap in hand, begging the Federal Government for help again. This unfortunately, is the situation in which the states find themselves now. Last week, several state governors were seen embracing themselves as the relief announced by the Federal Minister of Finance was announced. That announcement, politically expedient in the short-run, is not even in the long-term interest of the states. Indeed, no PDP governor should accept it without thinking six times. The reason is simple. “He who pays the piper dictates the tune”. Governors rescued by this forbearance by the Federal government have placed their states under the mercy of Buhari and have surrendered a great deal of the autonomy which the constitution granted to the states. For very little money, the governors have betrayed their people and placed them at the mercy of Buhari. The Minister disclosed the strategy for total subjugation of the states by pointing out that the relief is for one month only. So, every month represents another opportunity for the governors to turn to beggars and for the President to assume the position of one granting alms to destitute individuals. To the best of anybody’s knowledge, nobody has ever begged his way from poverty to wealth. Nigerian governors and their states will not be the first to do it. At any rate, they have the wrong benefactor if that is their objective. The Federal Government now unwisely granting the relief to the governors is itself almost totally broke and exists on borrowing and begging. It might be kind-hearted or attempting to generate popularity on the cheap, but, it cannot long sustain the support. Actually, the timing of the announcement suggests that it is all part of a build up to the one year anniversary. The idea might be to make public workers happy for April and May, and then bring them down to reality afterwards. In that case, this is an old trick with a new twist. Nigerians are incredibly deficient in history. With few exceptions, most of us don’t even remember what happened last year – not to talk of five years ago. By January last year, most states already owed their staff several months’ salary. But, as the elections approached, they borrowed heavily to pay for a few months. [Read my column tomorrow titled BAILING OUT STATES: FG’S EXERCISE IN FUTILITY]. With election over, the pattern of failure to pay salary was re-started. Most likely, after the credit might have been claimed for bailing out states in April and May, states will once again be left on their own. When that happens, disaster will follow. The signs are already there for those who can read the handwriting on the Nigerian sky. The Federal Government, States and Local Governments shared only N299.747BN for March 2016 against N338.765Bn in February of this year. Compare these with N473.832bn for November 2015 and N620.73bn in February 2012 and you need not be an economist to know what is in store for the states, as well as their benefactor – the Federal Government. One of the first Executive orders to be given by Buhari was in connection with salaries which he instructed should be paid on the 25th of every month. Well, economics is no respecter of persons – even Presidents. That order had been quietly ignored for two reasons. First, by due date there is frequently insufficient funds to pay. Second, with the Treasury Single Account, TSA, now in operation, MDAs remit all their funds first and make requests later. But, the main reason is still lack of funds. If the FED experienced difficulties when the distributable revenue was N473.832bn, what will be fate of Buhari’s workers when the income plummeted to N299.747bn or 63 per cent of the November 2015 and 48 per cent of February 2012 allocations? Those laughing in Aso Rock two weeks ago will soon find laughter far from them. But, there is a way out which the governors have not considered. That approach will buy them more time and put more money into the pockets of their states. But, will they listen? YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS. “An honest politician is one who when bought, will stand bought.” Simon Cameron, 1799-1889, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 190. Read what a dishonest PDP politician had to say to others like him. “The Jonathan Government did not have respect for Yoruba. It marginalized the Yoruba. The marginalization started under the regime. Yoruba was to be House of Representatives Speaker; they turned it down. Yoruba had no position from number one to six. Even if we were number six, it was not right. We were not six, seven, eight and nine. It was not a laughing matter. We are not slaves to other zones.” Now guess who said that. The author was Dr Doyin Okupe, who once called Jonathan his “messiah” – a great and unforgivable insult to the Redeemer. It was in the NATION of April 22, 2015, page 42. For over four years, Okupe served GEJ; told Yoruba that the man was the best thing to happen to them. Jonathan deserved the betrayal. Yoruba know better. We know those who point to the family house with the left hand. YORUBA KILLED TWICE KOGI “Supreme Court affirms death sentence on father of five. A national newspaper, April 23, 2015. People might not have missed the story of Mr James Afolabi, a Yorubaman in Kogi State which is predominantly Igala. Afolabi persecution started when a herdsman Abubakar Mohammed, strayed into his cassava and yam farm destroying almost a year’s work. A confrontation ensued and in the fracas Afolabi allegedly shot Mohammed in the chest. The police waded into the matter because it was a Fulani man who died; if Afolabi had been killed, nothing would have been heard of the matter. Afolabi, in the absence of a lawyer was forced to write a confessional statement admitting the killing even when there were no witnesses. The Kogi High Court, relying on this forced confession, sentenced Afolabi to death. The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict. And now the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Herdsmen kill thousands of Nigerians with impunity, No court, not even the Supreme Court gives a damn. Yoruba people should make the case of Afolabi a pan-Yoruba crusade. This is clear demonstration of hostility of the Igala against Yoruba. The entire South West must retaliate if Afolabi is executed. We must also insist that, henceforth, we receive equal treatment as herdsmen or we go our way. Personally, I have had enough of this nonsense. This is pure injustice and the Justices of the Supreme Court should be ashamed of themselves. Have they not heard of Miranda Case in the US, about police warning suspects that what they say without a lawyer might be used against them? Was Afolabi cautioned? Was he represented in the case which is a capital offence?I will no longer respect any of those (in)Justices of the Supreme Court. This is murder by the Judiciary.  Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/open-letter-nigeria-governors-forum/