Okonjo-Iweala: Governors have no excuse not to pay salaries

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, outgoing minister of education and coordinating minister of the economy, says the allocations that state governors received from the federal government in the last four years is capable of taking care of their responsibilities, including payment of salaries.

A total of 18 governors have been unable to pay civil servants, citing the deduction in allocation based on dwindling oil prices.

Adams Oshiomhole, governor of Edo, which is not among the states indebted to its workers, alleged on Wednesday that Okonjo-Iweala had mismanaged the economy and that $30 billion got missing under her watch.

But the minister dismissed the allegation, saying she was being targeted for making Nigerians know the actual situation of things.

“It is no surprise that a few days after the federal ministry of finance published the details of what the federal and state governments received from the excess crude account over the past four years, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state has launched an attack against the coordinating minister for the economy and minister of finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,” read a statement issued by Paul Nwabuikwu, special adviser to Okonjo-Iweala on media.

“His article ‘Economy: Okonjo-Iweala’s hidden figures’ is full of gaping holes, both in facts and logic.

“Obviously, for daring to publish how the ECA was shared and showing that governors who cannot pay salaries have no excuses, Okonjo-Iweala is being targeted. It is noteworthy that several of their colleagues have been able to manage their finances reasonably well under these same difficult circumstances.

“The release of the ECA details has also demonstrated very clearly that there is no substance in the wild allegations that any money is missing from the account or that finances of the country under Okonjo-Iweala’s watch have not been well-managed.”

The statement accused Oshiomhole of making the allegation with the intention to divert attention from issues relating to how governors spent the resources of their states.

“Like previous baseless allegations by some governors, the motive behind Oshiomhole’s attack is clear: to deflect public attention away from the manner in which they have run the finances of their states and make Okonjo-Iweala the scapegoat. If it was meant to intimidate the minister, it has failed abysmally,” he said.

“How can Governor Oshiomhole claim that state governors were not properly briefed on the status of the ECA when his commissioner of finance attends all the FAAC meetings where decisions are taken and communicated to the nation?

“This diversionary tactic will not succeed because Nigerians are too smart to buy into this fiction. Secondly, the finance ministry under Okonjo-Iweala, the minister who started the practice of publishing details of allocations from the federation account to all the three tiers of government, has regularly furnished Nigerians with information on the country’s finances.

“Oshiomhole’s allegation that the minister is involved in ‘an unholy alliance’ with government agencies and the marketers is therefore manifestly untrue and totally irresponsible. How can a minister against whom the oil marketers have conducted a very public campaign of calumny be in league with them? A decent public official should not make such scurrilous and unsubstantiated statements.

“The most laughable part of Oshiomhole’s article is the claim that Okonjo-Iweala has been speaking out lately because of the ‘fear of Buhari’. Nigerians know this is ridiculous. If there is any minister whose voice has been strong on the right issues over the past four years it is Okonjo-Iweala. Okonjo-Iweala combines a stalwart integrity, a mastery of her mandate and the courage of her convictions. She therefore has no reason to fear. Those who cannot adequately explain what they did with the resources of their states and are begging for bailout are those who should to be scared.”

States owing salaries are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Cross river, Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kastina, Kogi, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Pleateu, Rivers, and Zamfara.