Secret Reporters No place to hide
By Eneh John
The recent meeting of the State Governors, with an agenda to ask the Federal Government to help on payment of arrears of salary for workers is a big hyperbole and a joke.
The payment of salary for government workers is a must and it is not a favor because these civil service workers and funny that in Nigeria we call them “civil servants.” What a lexicon to use to describe workers who have earned their money.
It is their salary earned and ought to be paid on time. Or is there any interest on the late payment of the salary if I may ask.
In my opinion, these governors should go back to their states and first conduct a full audit of the state treasury. And to do this, the government needs an outside body, which is independent, perhaps a firm of chattered accounting firm to conduct the audit.
It’s on the conclusion of a thorough audit, which report is made public can these governors be taken serious.
Have any of the governors called for the absolution of the security votes? Funds designated and paid from our collective money that nobody accounts for how, where, when and for what purpose that money is used.
I challenge these governors to use these security votes for salary payment and seek to totally abolish the security votes.
The capital projects like stadium and adding runways at airport and planting of flowers with painting pavements of streets, is all good and well.
Recently there were parties at various government houses and both parties spent billions of naira in seeking to call Excellency and all that without realization that the government is broke. How can these gentlemen say they can’t pay salary when they travel in convoy of SUV vehicles and plane helicopter presiding over failed a state. The federal government need to go to these states and look at their books and asked the outgoing Nigerians that have run these states to account for these anomalies. And in the event of intentional defrauding and looting of treasury, these fellow Nigerians must be made to account. I seem bold to say that no Nigerian has a birth right to the resources and wealth of Nigerians and the case of nonpayment of salary must stop. Did any of these governors not get paid and their personal assistants and commissioners also?
In most countries, a boss does not get paid until the workers are paid.
Let the truth be told, even when it is scarce.
A REPUTATION FOUNDED ON INTEGRITY MUST BE NURTURED BY TRUTH
Eneh John is the Managing Editor of Secrets Reporters News
E-mail: enehjohn33@gmail.com
