Bailout: Senate committee impressed with Oyo State records
NAN-H-6
Bailout
By Cecilia John
Abuja, Jan. 25, 2017(NAN) The Senate Committee on States and Local Government Administration has described as impressive, records of the N17.3 billion bailout funds disbursed to Oyo State.
The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Abdullahi Gumel, made this known when the committee visited the state to review its records on the funds.
He said the visit was at the instance of the Senate which mandated the committee to verify records of states that accessed the funds following allegations of mismanagement.
“I have met with your officials, your Commissioners of Finance, Special Duty, the Accountant General and the representatives of the Heritage Bank and Skye Bank.
“They have made their presentations to us and we found that the state finance is well organised as far as the bailout fund is concerned.
“We got all the cooperation. We talked freely and frankly to the officials, civil servants, political appointees and we are satisfied as far as the bailout is concerned in Oyo state.
“Salaries and wages are touchy to the workforce and the President was so passionate about it that he gave the go ahead for the bailout, which is a huge sum.
“It gladdens our hearts to visit a state like Oyo and Bayelsa. The bailout records we got showed they are organised.
“ We are yet to see where this bailout fund is diverted, we are going to oversight 30 states,’’ he told Gov. Abiola Ajimobi in Ibadan.
The lawmaker assured that if another opportunity for bailout presented itself, the committee would not hesitate to recommend Oyo state.
However, Gumel urged the state government to put measures in place to eliminate ghost workers as well as tackle the problem of redundancy.
According to him, the effort would motivate the workforce to drive the governor’s change agenda.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the state government had received N17.3bn of the fund disbursed by the Federal Government to settle salary arrears of workers in 2015. (NAN)
CJM/ESAN/MZA
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Edited by Abiodun Esan/Maharazu Ahmed