A civil society group in Kogi State, Kogi Salvage Group 2019 has raised the alarm over alleged plans by governor Bello to use the last tranche of N30.8 billion bailout fund to prosecute his governorship ambition and fund his campaign in the November election. The bailout fund from the Federal Government is meant to offset workers’ salary arrears.
Kogi State has just received the last tranche of 30.8 billion bailout funds from the federal government for the settlement of arrears of workers’ salaries and emoluments but sources revealed that the funds have been diverted for other purposes ahead of the November gubernatorial election, thereby defeating the purpose of the government’s effort to provide succour for the workers.
The State government failed to apply the amount received from the federal government to settle their indebtedness to their workers, leaving them enmeshed in huge arrears of salaries to the staff despite collecting the bailout cash. The fund is said to have been diverted to settling individuals in ensuring that Governor Bello gets the party APC ticket ahead of the November governorship election leaving only a meager amount to pay workers salaries in percentages as usual. The Leader of the group, Josiah Adewale who spoke on behalf of the group said it is unprincipled, sacrilegious, and the height of perfidy of public trust that a government who should chair over the logical use of the State resources is nursing a cancerous agenda of diverting funds meant to better the lots of workers to sponsor the governor’s reelection bid.
“ Sources from Lugard House clearly reflect that It is unethical and unjust for the governor to start a plot to massively lavish our collective patrimony on his re-election. The bailout fund is meant for our workers and not meant to be squandered on individuals to ensure Bello gets the forthcoming APC governorship ticket ahead of the primaries. We collectively condemn this development and will do everything possible to stop the illegal money sharing fiesta,” he said. Conclusively, we call on Mr. President to impress on his self acclaimed son to channel the bailout funds towards payment of salaries in line with his commitment before the said fund was released.