By; MOHAMMED KAWU, Bauchi.
The National Assembly is poised to take punitive measures against any erring state government that failed to properly utilize or divert federal government bailout funds meant to offset backlog of workers’ salaries in any state of the federation.
The Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa who sounded the warning in Bauchi weekend, explained that the National Assembly approved the bailout funds for the FG to give state that have problems in the payment of workers salary.
“The fact is, investigative machinery has been set in motion to determine the proper utilization or otherwise of the bailout funds by the benefitting states is a clear indication that punitive measures will be taken against defaulting beneficiaries of the funds”, he said.
Doguwa observed now that President Muhammadu Buhari has considered similar gesture to states that have problems in education and health sectors, the salary bailout funds defaulting states are likely to miss out from the envisaged gesture.
He decried a situation whereby some state governments in the country have failed to maintain or effectively run existing health and educational institutions in their respective domains, saying healthcare services, primary and secondary education have been bastardized in some of those states.
To this end, Doguwa stated that any state that has been found in default in proper utilization of salary bailout funds, the National Assembly will regard the action by such a state as a cog to enjoy the health and education bailout gesture of the federal government.
Hon. Alhassan Doguwa called on Nigerians to bear the prevailing social and economic problems bedeviling them and the country, attributable to dwindling economic fortunes, and continue to pray for the leadership to salvage the cause of the people, stressing that in situation like this only prayers will put us on sound footing.
