Much as the issue of Katsina State Government's effort to access the CBN bailout fund may seem controversial, it's an issue that's simple and straightforward but only when viewed with sincerity of purpose and a little background in government workings and finances. Managing Government finances is not an "open and close" case as many people seem to believe. It is simple yet, hard to comprehend without the requisite background.
To begin, let me touch on the major "achievement" of the previous regime and deal with it on its face value and in the simplest terms. The much hyped idea of former Governor Shema not leaving behind backlog of salary is as much a ruse as the idea of flying horses or jinni in a lamp at least, within the context of governance. As at the time Shema hurriedly left Katsina there was only about N9m in the government's salary account and numerous other government accounts were either abused or fatally abused that it required a near " chartered accountant" brain to understand from which account salaries were paid. One thing that's obvious however, is the fact that financial regulation couldn't suffer a more tragic abuse than it did under Shema. It was so bad that hardly could one distinguish between capital and recurrent expenditure in those days. So it was that Shema took advantage of the confusion and maintain monthly payments of salaries without anybody knowing how or where he always sourced the money to do so. Till he bowed out, Katsina was practically operated on a "Ponzi scheme", SURE-P funds will be used to settle salaries, funds from Recurrent will be deployed to service Capital votes or the other way round defending on the convenience of the situation to service Shema's whimsical desires.
It was through this that a heavy debt burden of pension/gratuity to State and Local Government workers accumulated to the tune of over N11bn. No one could deny the seriousness of such a burden on the retirees and the state. For that, Governor Masari made the issue of unpaid pension/gratuity one of his major campaign promises. It is to be expected therefore, that he will do anything within acceptable limit to upload this responsibility and save these retirees from the needless hardship enforced on them.
It was while Governor Masari was trying to find ways to raise money to upset this liability that President Buhari, in his benevolence, directed the CBN to offer a soft loan as bailout to States having similar problem. A relieved and elated Governor Masari put forward his request of N11bn to the CBN to solve the pension/gratuity problem of the State. In a letter written to CBN the Accountant General of the State requested the said sum clearly stating it's for pension and gratuity. Unfortunately however, CBN rejected the request on the ground that the bailout is specifically for salaries and unless Katsina's request is for salary it will not entertain it.
Katsina State went back to the drawing board and the result was, if Shema could recklessly and mercilessly accumulate such a huge pension/gratuity bill, what is wrong with classifying the liability as salary if that will give Katsina State the opportunity to join the list of states being bailed out by the CBN. It was concluded that the State should seek for the loan on the stipulated terms of the CBN after all, what's wrong with putting blame where it squarely belongs? For Shema (or anybody at that) to feel slighted by this honest and logical effort to clear the pension/ gratuity mess the last regime carelessly and mercilessly built and left behind is, to say the least, the clearest proof of the dangerous attitude Katsina State was ruled and (mis)managed with in the last 8 years.
Unless the expired regime of Shema and its soldiers could prove the regime did not accumulate and left behind N11bn as pension/gratuity liability which most beneficiaries died in squalor waiting for a relief that never came, then certainly they lack the moral rectitude to contest the effort of Governor Masari to clear this mess using the same blanket approach it was created with. If this honest effort was a mistake, then it was a mistake we should beg Governor Masari to repeat over and over again because this is one case in which nobody will have problem believing the end truly and sincerely justify the means.
The idea of classifying pension/gratuity as salary for the purpose of satisfying CBN terms to obtain the loan is better understood when viewed from the position of weakness of the beneficiaries and the responsibility of the state to them, as well the responsibility of the strong to support the weak. Let me hear one sincere voice among the strong and agile cyber army condemning Governor Masari for this humane gesture deny he will not be celebrated if the tables were turned and the N11bn bill is to settle accumulated salaries and the bailout plan is for pension/gratuity. Most of us will be vomiting lengthy grammar to prove salaries and pensions are one and the same. I can even imagine a peaceful rally to support the Governor by the labour unions. How self centered could we be!
It is not a secret how much Shema expended to build a strong media fortress to save himself from the radiation of his misdeed but, no matter how strong a fortress he built truth will always penetrate and expose him to the effect of his actions. Perhaps, that may explain why he keep shooting himself on the foot. How else could one explain sponsored condemnation of efforts to provide fertilizer for the State when the previous regime stole all there was to steal in the stores of the State while on their way out. Did Shema truly expect Governor Masari to fold his arms and watch poor peasant farmers count their loses simply because Shema denied them fertilizer? Did he truly expect the people of the State to buy that silly yarn about the new government giving out a multi billion contract for the renovation of the old government house and another childish allegation of a contract for the purchase of furniture for the new government house when Governor Masari is shedding tears at the pathetic situation of our hospitals and schools? How disingenuous some people could be!
Governor Masari is humble and humane and will never put his luxury over and above his responsibilities. He is not a first timer "at the top" for his response to this kind of situations to be so hard to predict. He is not the type to build a N10bn luxury villa to massage his ego when over 600,000 children are sitting on bare floors in schools across the State to learn how to read and write or when hospitals are reduced to "dying centers". No, he is not the type to look away at hospitals collapsing for being refused attention when he could afford to build a stadium because it's juicy and more rewarding. Governor Masari is not so disconnected with the people that trusted and voted for him consider running hospitals of Katsina on a meager monthly N7m when the Government House is consuming more than N100m a month on frivolous expenditure. The earlier one get used to this idea, the sooner one will be spared the pain of watching Katsina State surmount its problems and join the league of States that have since passed the stage of just putting food on the table to the stage of producing quality students that could guarantee a State we all could be proud of. Thanks for this benevolent "mistake" Sir!
Maiwada Dammallam
Senior Special Assistant (New Media)
To the Governor
Comments
Post a Comment