Why Table Payment by Governor Bello?

…Kogi Rebel Explains

(1). Imagine how those local drivers plying through Kogi roads fit 4 passengers at the back of a the small sized Toyota Starlet car, for about 1 hour journey. Not enough to satisfy their greedy appetite for passengers, they put two more persons on the front passenger’s seat, then bring another complete human being to share the driver’s seat with them, while struggling to gear in or throttle the car into movement, battling with inconsistent handling of the steering wheel; subjecting the entire lives of everyone in the vehicle to avoidable risks of death and destruction.

Come with me,

It is common knowledge that, that car can only conveniently take Three passengers behind, one person at the front seat and the driver wheeling the vehicle. That is Four passengers in all, minus the driver. But greed and social wickedness would make them double that figure into 8 passengers, overstretching the balancing of the car tyres, over-engaging the velocity of the engine which half the time rams on a bad road from years of neglect, whilst at every turn, everyone in the vehicle is scared that something may happen that would make the driver lose control; the car would crash or the inconvenience could make someone with breathing problems suffocate. On this journey, if any voice dissents on why the driver should carry so much passengers, those drivers would shout the passengers down, tell them that in their own vehicle, that is how they carry. On the road blocks, Police officers of even Road Safety officials say nothing to these commercial vehicle drivers because it has been accepted as a norm.

Key things:

-The Toyota Starlet Car is the Civil Service.

• The four passengers is the supposed number of employers to be on the payroll because the car (Payroll) is small.
• The Driver are politicians of mediocrity who sees saturation of the civil service on  pay roll as their own form of empowerment to reward their political patronizers.
• The car tyre is the “allocation” which is overstretched. Imagine an allocation in average of 3.2 BN swallowed by a civil service wage bill of 2.8 BN, leaving only N400m outstanding, this calculation is not inclusive of the N800m that is deducted at source to service the plenty accumulated loans from many years of continuous governance. If you doubt this, did Gov. Wada not have to wait for two months allocation to pay one month salary? Even that that, he owed 4 months to state workers and over 30 months to teachers before leaving power because the car is too small to carry everyone. This Governor inherited this same problems. (Don’t worry about the bailout as it came to your mind, I would explain).
• Over-engagement of the car’s engine has to do with Government excessive borrowings aimed at meeting the giant expectations of the masses. So if the payroll remains as it is, only borrowings can make them pay as at when due- a postponement of debts for our generation unborn.
• The Police and Road Safety Officials are the “elites” or educated people amongst us who should know better, but would allow mediocrity pass because of their sentiments, tribalism, indirect beneficiaries of the problems and industrialized-Politicians who see the pains and challenges as opportunity to get into power by misrepresenting the facts.
• The critical of all of these passengers is the person who agreed to sit at the driver’s seat. The height of his own foolishness is legendary. He represents those who support illegality of certificate forgery, ghost workers drawing salaries, age falsifiers who shortchange the younger generation and Chieftaincy title holders of stiff heads who wants the state to remain a “civil service state”.
• The lone voice who raised the issue why they shouldn’t be more passengers in the car are few voices like mine and a collection of others who are truly “objective” on the “other side” who want a working Kogi state. Most times, these one are even shouted down by the same passengers he tries to make a case from when the driver of the vehicles speaks his language (tribalism) to say this is “how we do it here”.

None the less,

The entire staff of Kogi State Civil Service are courageous and patient. Amidst many challenges, I find their resilience and fighting spirit laudable. They are fine men, women, old men, young men, old women and young women who have disposed their services into state-hood services. May God bless them all.

For the months of pains and torture in going without salaries sometimes, I can honestly imagine what it may have been like, for those who have also divested their energy into other economic ventures, I find your creativity and ability to survive, courageous and lifting.

That said, I would like us to reason as people who jointly own the state. For the past two years, running into three, we have all been inundated with the struggle of building Kogi state from the hijack of years of constitutional mediocrity; institutional corruption; deliberate underdevelopment and saturation of the civil service by politicians who reward their followers with civil service jobs without any employment placement, required qualification or even basic job description after they have been pushed into the payroll. The implication of this is simple; those who should not be eating anything are the ones eating, while those who have given age long services in due diligence are shortchanged. They are at the receiving end. They become the real victims while those house of thieves and socially-conscienceless people make lives difficult for them to benefit from.

Let us not be greedy with reality. When the bailouts came, it was divided between the two tiers of government, State Government and Local Government.

Do you know that staff of local government in Kogi state is even larger than that of the state? All on minimum wage structure. How can they not all be owed? Sadly, politicians of “trained wickedness” also use fronts to draw heavily from this scheme, thereby growing it into an enterprise. The bailouts were shared Into two folds; N10BN went into the state, while N10BN was shared between the 21 Local Government Areas in the state to settle salary obligations. Bear in mind that the N20BN was not to settle “all” salary areas because the piled up arrears would require about 55BN to offset as required by the government of Wada when he applied for the about N50.4 B bailout which Governor Bello received N20BN out of, with an outstanding of N30BN still with the CBN, yet to come to the state.

State Government workers who passed through the screening exercise conducted by Gov. Bello  are still owed between 5-6 months and some 4 months, depending on their calculations and when they were cleared. Does that not mean that many were paid out of the bailout funds if they claimed the screening lasted for one year plus?

The Governor recently paid one month salaries to all the workers, whilst pushing the teachers salaries whom were getting 30% initially to 54% percent. This shows a deliberate effort and dragging every part of the state along.

What about the Paris Refunds? Were there for salaries? No. These were excess deductions in taxes from Nigeria, returned to us which was shared between states so as to provide funds for infrastructure since the allocation of the states reclined due to crash in oil prices. Were it to be used to pay for salaries, how could we have gotten the roads going on in Kogi state at different stages of completion ? What about the 50,000 ton per day Rice Mill at Ejiba in Kogi State? Is it a mere 2BN project? How much does it cost to construct a 15klm Road in Nigeria? We have about 54 roads currently flagged off, with slow speed of completion due to poor funds, then we have city priority roads nearing faster completion which by January, the Kogi State Government aims at a 60% completion peg. Can anyone say they don’t see roads at all?

Where did the funds for the completion of the Kogi State Diagnostic Center, Lokoja, come from? What about the Kogi State Revenue House?

What about the Kogi State Tranportation Yard at Felele, Lokoja? Where did the funds for cleaning of the state Capital, through Geemony services come from? Where did the funds to finance the 3000 Men of the Kogi State Vigilante Services which another 3000 was recently commissioned to deepen security in the state come from? Do you know that about 157 Hilux vehicles and a mix of Siena Buses were given to these men? How much does a new hilux cost? Where did the funds for counterpart logistics funding by the state government in support of the following programs of FG: Anchors Borrowers, N-Power, Market Moni, etc come from? Where did the money for the operational vehicles bought for Government appointees come from? Or they are supposed to trek? Where did the funds for the overhauling and reconstruction of Government House, Lokoja, come from?  Where did the funds for the reconstruction of the medical lab in School of Health Sciences, Idah come from? What about the Tractors bought by the Kogi State Ministry of Agriculture to help farmers clear their lands free of charge? 16k new farmers have been empowered by the state And FG in the last two years. Most of them contribute to the 80% rice sufficiency Nigeria has reached. They plant Cassava as Kogi is the largest producers in Nigeria. What about our Cashew portfolio and awareness stimulation? Kogi is the highest producers in Nigeria. Go to the checkers.

Following the SDG goals too, the Kogi State Government has made intervention in Infant Mortality Rate, by driving it down aggressively through medical interventions, plannings etc. Money don’t fall from heaven to fix these issues.

I know Government can do more. I agree. But these things listed above are not mere coincidence.

Everyone would be right if they say the current Government has not done anything if all the funds that came into the state were to be used to pay only salaries, but is that the case?

That is not to say they are no issues of corruption, however, we have seen a deliberate departure. Can anyone come to accuse me that all these projects I listed are not factually on ground that they can see? I would like to open that challenge.

It is a difficult position to be, in the case of Kogi state, any Governor would be required to make two decisions: 1. Pay Salaries and do nothing else (the case of Governor Wada) or Restrict regular payments to balance other areas of the state in security, health, educational facilities, agriculture, etc.

The second option can be realistic with payment of salaries regularly if the civil service is carrying the normal passengers for that Starlet car.

After the screening exercise, which many people were weeded out, do you know the wage bill remained the same? How?

What happened was that the civil service was so corrupt that monies were paid to absorb those who didn’t make the screening back on the payroll. It was more like some people were also pushed out for others to be pushed in to serve as fronts for the main beneficiaries whom are not known.

Table Payment is to settle this case:

1. Cheques have been prepared, after loan deductions, taxes and other obligations have been settled.
2. Only Physical appearance can validate authenticity of Staff. Because even some people that are dead are still getting salaries which is getting siphoned by others.
3. Identity cards, employment letter are the required documents from my investigation. This time, biometric capturing would be done to digitize the payroll.
4. Appear-to-collect money method ensures that nobody would claim they haven’t been paid except they are ghosts, certificate forgers, stooges for unintended beneficiaries, etc.
5. All debtors cannot scheme their creditors to blame it on the Government.
6. It would be transparent and settle every outstanding issues, including those who have been “cleared” but not getting salaries. How and who was getting it instead of them would be unraveled.
7. It is the final batch of anything called screening because it would reduce the payroll, open the real nature of Staff strength as Labour is also actively involved.

You could be asking, why is this coming out now? The truth is that the humongous challenges met were so giant like that it would take many months of climbing it to understand the problems. Kogi Rebel is also getting to understand the real issues and would be bringing it out as it is, regardless of what anyone thinks.

Let us not overstretch this Scarlet car, death awaits our unborn generation. On this one Governor Bello has hit a master class decision.

It does not matter what anyone would think, if you think I have been paid to write this particular article, swear to die by road accident on this article. If you are sure, swear by it.

Kogi must rise, whatever side you have chosen to belong.

– Promise Emmanuel (Kogi Rebel)