As 27 Nigerian states sink deeper into financial crisis, unable to fulfil their basic obligations by paying workers, President Muhammadu Buhari says he will set up an inter-ministerial committee to study a fiscal restructuring plan for Nigeria as presented by the state governors.
In the interim, the president said he will strive to make more funds available to the states by expediting action on refunds due to them for the maintenance of federal roads and other expenses incurred on behalf of the Federal Government
He gave the pledge today during a meeting with members of the Nigerian Governors Forum in Abuja.
The pledge came amidst increasing concern that 27 states are unable to pay their workers.
Buhari said it was a matter of great concern to him that this was happening despite the bail-out funds provided to them by the Federal Government.
He said that he was very disturbed by the hardship which state government workers across the country and their families were facing due to the non-payment of salaries.
The President said that the committee will review the plan to improve the finances of state governments and make recommendations on how proposals in the plan should be dealt with by the Presidency, the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly through legislation.
President Buhari urged the governors, however, to understand that while he was ready to do all within his powers to help the states overcome their current financial challenges, the Federal Government also has funding problems of its own to contend with.
“You all know the problems we have found ourselves in. You have to bear with us,” he told them.
The Chairman of the Governors Forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State and the Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, who chaired the committee that worked on the Fiscal Restructuring Plan, asked the Federal Government to do more to help the states financially.
The governors told the President that while they had resolved to take other measures to boost their internally-generated revenue, the implementation of the Fiscal Restructuring Plan will help them to deal with their funding problems on short, medium and long-term bases.
They said that if the plan was adopted and implemented by the Federal Government, states of the federation will become more financially empowered to fulfil their constitutional responsibilities.