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I guess it’s already stale news that President Buhari is giving money to all the states to pay all government workers before Christmas. The money is part of the Paris Fund.
Nigeria has so much money in places other than the Central Bank that I doubt anyone knows the total. However, thank God that the funds are useful for now.
No state governor will have any excuse not to pay the outstanding emoluments of his workers. In fact, for all government workers, odun yi o ye, there’s no excuse for not enjoying the yuletide.
But it’s the governors who will be the greatest beneficiaries, especially as we progressively approach 2019, which is an election year.
It is 2018 that will differentiate the men from the boys. It will be a year when zillions of money will change hands.
It’s no surprise, therefore, that some of the governors have been saying it’s not the president’s business to tell them what to do with the money. Since each chief executive is independent in a presidential system and each level of government is independent, there shouldn’t appear to be a case where one executive is giving an order to another.
That’s true. However, the president has advised the state governors. He feels the governors should be sympathetic to the workers. In any case, it may not be appropriate to stick to legalism in some cases. This is one such case. State chief executives should be happy that they have found a leeway to solve their workers’ salary issue.
But some of the governors already have their own plans. That’s why they have suddenly reminded themselves of their independence.
One has said that not only government workers will share the money. According to him, artisans, market women, transporters, etc., must also participate in the lucky dip.
However, if the gentleman had consulted his economists, he would have been told that the workers would not eat raw cash. Rather, they would spend the money, which would improve the economy since money would circulate.
But people will only learn things they care about. Governors who fail to pay their workers are callous. It is not fair for a worker to work and not be paid.
It is even sadistic when salary arrears are being owed. We all know how difficult it is to survive in this country now.
To the workers, one should congratulate them even before receiving the money.
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