Non-payment Of Salaries: Reps Probe Bail-out Funds For Kogi

The House of Representatives on Tuesday mandated its Ad Hoc Committee on Bail-out Funds to probe all releases and utilisation of bail-out funds to Kogi State Government and report back within one week.

The House directives followed the death of a director in the Kogi State Civil Service, Mr Edward Soje, who reportedly committed suicide over his inability to discharge the responsibility of sustaining his family.

The House also mandated the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN) to within one week report and explain the utilisation of salary bail-out funds given to all the 36 states.

The directives followed unanimous adoption of a Motion of Urgent National Importance moved by Rep. Sunday Karimi (Kogi-PDP) at the plenary presided by the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara.

Moving the motion, Karim said despite the federal statutory allocation, salary bail-out funds and Paris Club refund received by Kogi Government, non-payment of state and local government workers salaries still lingers.

The legislator said the deceased took his life after his wife was delivered of a set of triplet at an Abuja hospital last week, noting that the late senior civil servant was being owed 11 months salary which made it difficult for him to meet his responsibilities.

According to Karimi, the situation of Soje is the lot of most civil servants and pensioners in Kogi state, lamenting that the state government had opposed and refused any authority to investigate the non-payment of staff salaries.

He said if nothing is immediately done about the situation in Kogi, more civil servants who were frustrated may commit suicide

In her contribution, Rep. Nnkiruka Onyejeocha (Abia-PDP), said it was sad for parents who worked for kogi government go several months without pay and urged her colleagues to support the motion so that the committee can treat the matter with high speed.

Rep. Jimoh Olajide (Lagos-APC) commended the motion’s mover for the courage to speak for Kogi people, stressing that the function of government was basically to ensure the welfare and security of the people.

According to Olajide, a situation where civil servants are committing suicide, nobody knows what is next. The lawmaker, who advised the three tiers of government to be considerate and just, urged Nigerians not to commit suicide, no matter the difficulty.

The House therefore urged the Federal and State as well as Local Governments to prioritise payment of salaries to their workers.