Buhari Did Not Rebuke Governors Over Paris Club Refunds – NGF
Sokoto State arriving for the Nigeria Governors Forum Meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday
(26/4/17).NAN
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) says President Muhammadu Buhari did not rebuke state governors over the management of Paris Club refunds released to them.
In a statement released on Wednesday by its Head of Media and Publicity, Abdulrazaque Barkindo, the forum said while governors are doing their best to mitigate poverty, some elements are working hard to obliterate this effort.
While denying the report, it said that it is necessary to state the governors’ position because the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had “crashed into the false information and reacted to an erroneous publication”.
According to the statement, the reports misunderstood the context of President Buhari’s statement to the nation’s traditional rulers when he met with them on Monday.
Selfish motives
It also stated that the NLC was being misled into a tirade on things that Buhari never said, adding that some persons are taking on the governors for selfish reasons.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is nowhere in the president’s statement where he mentioned Paris Club and it is unfair for anyone to attempt to bring the state governors and the presidency on a collision course.
“Moreover, there is so far, no investigation known to any governor on the Paris Club refunds regarding non-payment of salaries, talk less of any indictment.
“Furthermore, the Paris Club refund was not borrowed money but an over-deduction from states’ repayments of a loan which the federal government is repaying to states that were erroneously debited.”
The forum said that it is not just saddening but painful that the NLC has been misinformed into casting aspersions on the Chairman of NGF, Alhaji Abdulaziz Abubakar, who had “respectfully fulfilled all promises he made to Zamfara workers”.
The NGF noted that the reference to the strike action currently going on in Zamfara by the workforce was not only misplaced but uncalled for.
It said that the strike has nothing to do with non-payment or non-judicious disbursement of the Paris Club refunds.
