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I guess it’s already stale news that President Buhari is giving money to all the states in order to be able to pay all government workers before Christmas. The money itself is part of the Paris Fund.
The monies Nigeria has in places other than the Central Bank are so much that I doubt if 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 that will be the greatest beneficiaries. Especially, as we’re progressively going into the year 2019. 2019 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 givernors have been saying it’s not the business of the President to tell them what to with the money. Truly, 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. But what the president has done is to advise the state governors. He feels the givernors should be sympathetic with the workers. In any case, it may not be appropriate to stick to legalism in some cases. This is one of such cases. 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 it is not only government workers that will partake in the sharing of the money. According to him, the artisans, market women, transporters, etc must be part of the lucky dip.
However, if the gentleman had consulted his economists, he would have been told that the workers will not eat raw cash. Rather, they will spend the money. In that way, the economy will be improved since the money will circulate.
But people will only learn things they care about. I believe those governors that will fail to pay their workers are callous. It is not the fairest thing 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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