No money to pay them – SGF
By Ezrel Tabiowo
Abuja
Staggering revelations emerged yesterday that former Presidents, including Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Alhaji Shehu Shagari have not been paid their salaries and allowances by the Federal Government since January this year.
Other former Presidents also affected are General Yakubu Gowon, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, and Chief Ernest Shonekan who headed the Interim National Government.
The revelation which came as a shock to Senators on the committee of Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, led by Senator Tijjani Kaura (APC, Zamfara North), was unearthed during a visit by the lawmakers to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, yesterday.
Our correspondent gathered from a source who spoke on condition of anonymity that the non-payment of former presidents was due to lack of approval by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to the source, payment schedules had severally been sent for the president’s approval to access funds in the service wide vote for the purpose, but all attempts in that direction were to no avail.
But giving his own version of explanation as to why former presidents were owed by the federal government, the SGF, Babachir Lawal, attributed same to the unavailability of funds in service wide votes for salaries of the former leaders.
Lawal said: “There is a department responsible for 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 was not paid, but we’ve explained that he’s not the only one affected.
“Others affected are the Inter-Religious 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 SGF continued: “The budget for this year’s Democracy Day was N33million, and we had to do it on credit, we are yet to pay. There are lots of retreat which ought to be organised but there’s no money to do any. The last time we got any release was in August.”
However, the Senators who were not swayed by the explanation, kicked against the non-payment of former presidents, and also insisted that joint efforts be made between the office of the SGF and the committee towards finding a solution to the problem which they described as unfortunate.
The lawmakers, who took turns to slam the SGF over the development, also emphasised the need to draw the attention of the Budget Office and Ministry of Finance to the development with a view to having same addressed immediately.
One of the lawmakers who is the Vice Chairman of the committee, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, described the non-payment of former presidents as abnormal.
“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 Ministry of Finance to the problems,” Hunkuyi said.
The lawmaker also faulted the OSGF for replicating 2016 budget details in its 2017 budget proposal.
On his part, another lawmaker and former governor of Sokoto state, representing Sokoto North, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, also kicked vehemently against the development
“We can understand if former President Goodluck Jonathan has not been paid because he just left office. But for someone like Shagari, who lives from hand to mouth is something I can’t understand. This development is really unfortunate; it doesn’t indicate seriousness, and it doesn’t indicate fairness,” he said.
Attempting to persuade the lawmakers who expressed outright disappointment at the development, the SGF explained further: “When I got into this office, there was a lot of money in this account, but there was no TSA.”
