Paris club crisis: You cannot dictate to Us, Bindow tells FG

Barely four days after the Federal Government through the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, announced that some states have violated the guidelines for disbursement of funds from the Paris Club, Adamawa State Governor Mahammadu Jibrilla Bindow has reacted sharply, saying the Federal Government cannot dictate to states how they use their funds. 

Addressing journalists yesterday at Government House, Yola, Bindow said his agreement before collecting the Paris Club funds was to only use 50 per cent for salaries arrears and 50 per cent for capital projects in the state.  

The governor, who spoke through the Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Mahmood Inusa Saleh, said the state collected a total of N9.3 billion, out of which N1billion was budgeted for pensioners’ arrears. 

On why pensioners are yet to be paid for years, he explained that the arrears would be cleared once the pensioners are screened to separate ghost pensioners from the real ones. 

Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Ahmed Sajoh, who also spoke at the emergency press conference, said the governor was doing everything possible to ensure that pensioners in the state were paid at the end of the month.