by Opeoluwa Quadri
The Bauchi state governor, Mohammed Abubakar on Monday debunked claims that his administration diverted the Paris Club Fund given by the federal government to states; he said that his government used 85 per cent of the fund to settle the outstanding salaries of workers in the state and local government.
“When I got the Paris Club Fund for the state, I called the local government chairmen and informed them about it. I then used the sharing formula I got from the federal ministry of finance and gave the local government 42% while state got 58%,” he said.
The Bauchi State government also disclosed that it inherited the sum of N14.5 billion outstanding gratuities from the previous administration. The governor said the issue of outstanding gratuities is not peculiar to Bauchi state.
Gov Mohammed Abubakar said that his administration was passionate about the settlement outstanding gratuities, adding that the federal government through the debt management office was going to issue loans to state in order for them to settle all gratuities.