The one-time Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Borno state Mr David Balami has said that the payment of N12 billion gratuity to retirees in Borno state was a watershed in the history of the relationship between workers and government.
He noted, in a telephone interview yesterday that since the government does not have the billions required to upset the entitlements, coupled with the indispensability of settlement and how critical it is, to the livelihood of thousands of retirees and hundreds of thousands of their dependants, it became necessary for the government to devise ways to source for funds to pay up.
He also stated that if a courageous and farsighted decision is not reached on how to get money to settle the entitlements, the consequences to those involved will be disastrous to all efforts by the government to bring succor to a people that have no any other means of survival other than the entitlements.
Mr Balami, a respected elder and an influential member of the Borno state League of ex-editors remarked that the Borno State government deserves commendation for the unprecedented service delivery in all spheres of development – an achievement he said is unparalleled in the country. According to him, the accolades Governor Zulum is receiving from all walks of life and the continued unsolicited prayers he is getting from all Nigerians are testimonies that his policies and programmes have made the desired impact and that he is on the right track.
The loan, he explained, cannot be a burden since the payment schedule, space and conditions are such that will rather give leverage for more accomplishments to be made. “In Borno, workers are happy with the Governor, market people are happy with the Governor, artisans are happy with the Governor, students are happy with the Governor …in fact, every right-thinking Nigerian from within and outside the country is happy for the people of Borno state for having a man like Professor Zulum as Governor and you can see that every state is praying and yearning to have a Governor like Zulum.”
“We are happy with our Governor and that is why everywhere is quite here. If you want to gauge whether people are happy with their Governor, ask the people themselves. Our hope is that the relationship between the people and the government will continue to be solid in a way that our state will continue to witness growth.
He explained that the fear of taking a loan is that it will be stolen or misapplied by corrupt leadership. In the case of Borno, that will not happen because we trust our Governor.”
Another fear, the Septuagenarian further clarified, is that a loan burden could slow-paced development. “In Borno, we do not have such fear because the pace of our infrastructural development has been second to none in this country. We are by far better under Zulum’s one and a half years than many states that have spent eight years or governors who are currently in their fifth year. So you can see that the balance is just right.”
He intoned that while workers in some states are girding their loins to embark on strike actions based on welfare and entitlement grievances, the case in Borno is pleasantly different.
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