₦airaland Forum

The Federal Government has revealed that it has
not paid former Presidents and ex-Heads of State
including Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo
and Shehu Shagari allowances since January this
year.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation,
Babachir Lawal, said this on Thursday while
playing host to the members of the Senate
Committee of Federal Character and
Intergovernmental Affairs, led by Senator Tijjani
Kaura in his office.

According to him, the former leaders have not
been paid due to unavailability of funds for the
service-wide votes for salaries of ex-presidents.

Lawal said, “There is a department responsible for
the payment of former Presidents. Presently, funds
are not available in service-wide vote to do that.
We are aware there was a protest in Bayelsa State
that the former President (Jonathan) was not paid
and we have explained that he is not the only one
affected.

“Others affected are the interreligious council,
traditional rulers’ council and so on. For some
reasons, we have been writing and writing but
there has been no response. And there is
presently no money to pay them.

“The budget for this year’s Democracy Day was
N33m and we had to do it on credit; we have yet
to pay. There are lots of retreats which ought to
be organised but there’s no money to do any. The
last time we got any release was in August.”

However, those in the know claim that the former
presidents have not received their entitlement
because President Muhammadu Buhari allegedly
refused to approve it.

According to the source, payment schedules
needed to access the funds and sent to the
President for his approval have not been treated.
The visiting senators, however, dismissed Lawal’s
explanation, insisting that joint efforts should be
made between the Office of the SGF and the
committee towards ensuring that the leaders were
paid the arrears.

The vice-chairman of the committee, Senator
Suleiman Hunkuyi, described the non-payment of
the former presidents as abnormal.

He said, “What we have seen here is an
abnormality. Before referring any matter to the
National Assembly, it is a function of the executive
to appropriate funds. Therefore, the SGF should
understand that there is something wrong in this
office that must be addressed.

“There is no way you can run the expenses of this
office without cash backing. We definitely have to
draw the attention of the Budget Office and the
Ministry of Finance to the problems.”


dailypost.ng/2016/11/18/not-paid-jonathan-obasanjo-shagari-others-10-month-allowances-fg/

OKDnigeria:
According to him, the former leaders have not
been paid due to unavailability of funds for the
service-wide votes for salaries of ex-presidents.
/

When you hear Buhari lament all the time that States are unable to pay salary, you will think that the FG owes nobody even a dime.
It is well...

What a list........