The Yuguda administration has finally hit bottom. The unregulated financial behavior of the state administrators has begun to yield expected consequences. This is as information recently made available to 247ureports.com through the chief press secretary to the government of Bauchi State indicates that the Bauchi State government has virtually gone broke. The state administrator can no longer offset its bills and/or debts.
To this end, the Bauchi State Government has acted to take measures to address what it termed the current economic down turn to enable it meet day to day activities in the state. A letter with reference number GO/SS/OFF/S/30/V.ll/943 signed by the Secretary to the Bauchi State Government Ahmed Ibrahim Dandija and dispatched to all State Government offices stated that “the current down turn in the nation’s economy is telling the state government as a result of dwindling resources at its disposal, this has made it very difficult for the government to meet the competing demands being made on it”
The added also that, the Government had decided to take the following measures within the scarce resources at its disposal. It suspended all awards of new contracts, suspended foreign trips for training including overseas scholarship award, medical treatment/check up or other official purposes except where it’s absolutely necessary with express approval given by Governor Isa Yuguda. All unnecessary expenses by Ministries, Departments and Agencies must be stopped, however where there is a critical and urgent need, the affected ministry must seek and obtain his Excellency’s verbal clearance through the secretary to the state government. It also put on hold all request for review of salaries and allowances by labour unions. It reduced allowances for adhoc – committees by 50% and halted fresh employment.
The about desperate austerity measures by the Bauchi government confirms earlier reports by 247ureports.com which highlight the financial danger posed by the insatiable appetite for the state treasury by a select number of administrators within the governor’s cabinet – the governor, the secretary to the state government [SSG], the chief of staff and others. As previously reported, the State government main account at FCMB has maintained an average account balance in the negative amount of N300,000 monthly. The checks issued to State contractors have repeatedly bounced as the banks have refused to honor the State issued checks. Many of the approvals for payments which the governor had penned for payment – still remains unpaid due to lack of funds. The approval invoices for payments are said to amount to over N1.7billion.
Adding gravitas to the already dense financial mess in the State is the revelation from an insider within the state government that over 60% of the workers are yet to receive their May 2012 salary. As 247ureports.com gathered, the State government had issued their civil servants with their [salary] checks but the respective banks were said to have refused payment. The banks were reported to have lost the trust it had with the state government of being able to honor its financial obligations. For this reason, many of the Bauchi State workers remain unpaid for the months of June and May.
In talking with the director general for the public enlightened agency of Bauchi, Malam Magas, he confirmed that a large segment of the Bauchi staff have yet to receive their pay. The CPS, Mr. Michaels also confirmed that many within the workforce were yet to receive their pay. They both attributed the lack of payment of salaries to a reduced federal allocation that it normally received monthly. They claimed that the federal allocation was reduced arbitrary by 50% by the federal government.
But independent inquiry conducted by 247ureports.com revealed otherwise. It revealed that the federally allocated revenue to Bauchi State was not reduced. Rather the expected disbursement from the excess crude account by the federal government was re-channeled by the Federal Ministry of Finance into a collective Foreign Wealth Fund.
As a result of the rechanneling, the financial instability within the Bauchi governing system was brought to full nakedness.
