•Again, Kaduna beggars storm Govt House
From Noah Ebije and Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Kaduna Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday told elites in the state that anyone of them who thinks government is a bazaar, or a funder of last resort should know that his administration is against such practices.
The governor said without the recent public service payroll verification, the state would have borrowed over N300 million to pay salaries.
el-rufai added that his government, “certainly does not have the money to fritter on the vanities of the elite.”
Speaking during the inauguration of boards of five parastatals in Kaduna, the governor said the parastatals have mandates that are aligned to the goals of the restoration programme, which will help strengthen the public service.
The agencies are the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA), the Kaduna Facility Management Agency (KADFAMA), the Kaduna Geographic Information Service (KADGIS), the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS) and the Kaduna State Bureau of Pensions.
He said: “The government paid N2.7billion in wages and pensions in May 2015. That is why we commenced the verification of the public service payroll from June 2015. If we had not done verification, we would have had to borrow N300million just to pay salaries. If government is designed to provide a legitimate machinery to organise society and provide public goods, then its resources cannot be legitimately spent only on servicing itself.”
In another development, beggars under the auspices of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) yesterday marched to Kaduna State Government House in their numbers, demanding the withdrawal of the anti-begging law recently passed by the state assembly.
It was the second time the group was embarking on the protest march, which started last week.
They insisted on repeal of the law until the governor fulfilled his campaign promises to them.
Security operatives, on spotting the beggars quickly mobilised and blocked them from gaining entry into the governor’s premises. An Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) was stationed a few metres away from the main gate.
A reinforcement of men of the Nigerian Police Force later arrived in eight Hilux pickup vans. They were armed with guns and teargas apparently to forestall a breakdown of law and order.
Muntari Sale, who spoke on behalf of the group, expressed dismay over what he termed Governor Nasir El-rufai’s non-challant attitude towards people living with disability.
He pledged that they would not relent in their struggle until something tangible was done about their plight.
He said: “We demand that the Governor of the state, Malam Nasir El-Rufai and members of the state House of Assembly should fulfill the promises they made to us during their campaign while seeking votes from us.
The governor promised us that he would not ban street begging until he made adequate arrangement for our upkeep and welfare.
“He promised that 30 per cent of our members would be given employment any time the state government had a programme running, which has not been met.
He also promised to provide for the sick, educate our children and employ those with different skills with a view to easing the suffering of the people living with disability.
“This law was passed in Kano, Edo and Lagos states as well as the FCT and they did not succeed: the government has not made adequate arrangements for us, yet it wants to ban us from our only source of livelihood.
We are human beings like everyone. The way everybody is delivering children, that is the same way we are, the way people marry is the way we marry and the way parents try to educate their children is the same way we try to educate ours.”
“ Anyone who thinks government is a bazaar, or a funder of last resort for their greed should know that we oppose such practices, and we certainly don’t have the money to fritter on the vanities of the elite.
“Some of these parastatals are brand new, and their emergence is to give effect to our quest to lay a stronger institutional foundation for the public service as a committed and effective provider of services for the people of Kaduna State. Everyone can identify and lament the limitations that hobble public agencies, but our duty is to actively take steps to strengthen these agencies in the overall interest of the state.
“All the five agencies whose boards we are inaugurating today have mandates that are aligned to the core of the Restoration Programme that we presented as our roadmap for governance during the election campaigns.
“We promised to make this state attractive to private investors who can create multiples of the few direct jobs that government can offer. Less than 100,000 persons are employed in the public service of Kaduna State, out of a population that is between 8million and 10million. The wages of these fewer than 100,000 workers are relatively low, but together consume about 90per cent of state resources.
“In March 2016, Kaduna State got N2.4billion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee. That same month, our wage bill was N2.2billion. That leaves only N200million. When you add overheads to this, you get a full picture of the dire financial straits that low revenues and public service expenses have placed the state.
“How much can the government deliver for the larger population, the majority of the residents of the state, with a wallet of N200million? Will anything remain when wages, pensions and overheads are paid? And it could have been worse! The fact is that the state is being kept afloat by the difficult decisions we took as soon as we resumed at the end of May 2015.
“These grim statistics we have just shared indicate that Kaduna State needs to raise more money from internal sources while it continues to cut costs by tackling fraud and eliminating waste. KADIPA’s job, which is to attract investments into Kaduna State is practically a matter of survival. Our IGR effort must be so coherent that its clarity and ease of payment serve as a key incentive to investors, who also know that the validity of land titles can easily be checked at a computerised land registry, KADGIS.
“The state facility management agency (KADFAMA) assumes responsibility for the timely and efficient maintenance of all government assets, saving the huge sums wasted on assets that are allowed to deteriorate before they are rescued. And by sorting out pensions through a contributory pension scheme, we have removed the peril to public finances that unsustainable pension liabilities would have posed.”
The boards that were inaugurated have big names like Flour Mills boss John Coumantaros, who is vice-chairman of the KADIPA board that is chaired by Deputy-Governor Barnabas Yusuf Bala.