Governors, Speakers Disagree On Fixed Monthly Payment to States’ Legislatures

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•FG holds talks with striking workers today
•Parliamentary workers give conditions to return to
work

Governors and speakers of Houses of Assembly in the 36 states of
the federation have disagreed over the modality for the
disbursement of funds to the legislature under the financial
autonomy regime billed to begin in May, according to Thisday report.^[1]

Our correspondent gathered at the weekend that while the
governors are offering an irreducible minimum payment of N100
million monthly to each of the legislatures in the states to fund
their operations, the speakers are insisting on N250 million
monthly.

The governors also rejected the demand of the Judiciary Staff
Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of
Nigeria (PASAN) that the gross allocations should be remitted to
the two arms of government directly.

The governors’ hard-line position, it was learnt, might delay an
early resolution of the strike embarked upon by judicial and
parliamentary workers in the 36 states and the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) to press for the implementation of financial
autonomy for state judiciaries and legislatures.

While the governors have agreed that the National Judicial
Council (NJC) will handle funds for states’ judicial councils, they
insisted that they will deduct loans and legacy debts from their
allocations.

In a bid to resolve the issues and end the ongoing industrial
dispute, the federal government will today hold talks with the
striking judicial workers and PASAN.

However, PASAN has said its members will continue the strike
until full financial autonomy of the state legislatures is
implemented.

The agitation by JUSUN and PASAN for the implementation of
financial autonomy for the judiciary and legislative arms of
government in states, as stipulated by the 1999 Constitution as
altered, had led to the shutdown of courts nationwide for the third
week running.

At a meeting between the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof.
Ibrahim Gambari, and the governors under the auspices of the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), both parties had reached an
agreement on how to resolve the issues, with the governors
proposing May timeline for the takeoff of the implementation of
financial autonomy for the two other arms of government.

But after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday,
the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige,
confirmed THISDAY’s report to State House correspondents that the
governors had altered some parts of the agreement.

He said the development was responsible for the insistence of
the judicial workers not to suspend their industrial action.

He said the affected areas of the agreement were fundamental in
terms of the execution of Sections 83 and 162 of the Executive
Order 10.

Ngige said: “We reviewed what has been done. The chief of staff
did what we call in labour parlance tripartite plus arrangement by
engaging them, both parties conceded; the Nigeria Governors’ Forum,
the heads of courts, state judges, the unions and the Presidential
Implementation Committee for Executive Order 10 led by the
Attorney-General, represented by the Solicitor-General of the
Federation and Permanent Secretary.

“So, we reviewed where they are. We had a twist two days ago
because the arrangement they had with the chief of staff had to be
altered when the governors got back to their forum.

“As the conciliator, when they presented the two papers, one
from the solicitor-general and another one from the
director-general of the NGF, I had to tell them that we have to
reconcile those papers because the areas where they differ are very
fundamental areas in terms of the execution of Sections 83 and
162.”

The minister added that the governors should rework the
agreement among themselves for negotiations to resume.

However, a source told THISDAY at the weekend that the governors
have accepted in principle the funding of both the state
legislatures and judiciaries from their allocations from the
Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), to be deducted from
the States Accounts Allocation Committee (SAAC).

The source said as part of its implementation, the state
governments would from May 1, set up the States Accounts
Allocations Committee (SAAC) with members from the States Assembly
Committee Chairmen on Finance and the States Commissioners of
Finance to discuss on monthly basis the disbursement of funds.

The source, however, added that the governors and speakers could
not reach a consensus on how much to be given to each state
legislature monthly.

According to him, while the governors have proposed minimum
irreducible monthly allocations of N100 million to the state
legislatures, the speakers insisted on N250 million.
Also, the governors, it was learnt, stuck to their initial position
that the amount for the legislature and the judiciary should be
based on the net proceeds from FAAC after deductions of states’
debts, instead of the gross.

The source stated that the governors’ position was that all
monthly debts incurred by the states must be deducted from the
allocations.

He said: “Governors have agreed in principle on the financial
autonomy for the other arms of government in the states, but it
must be based on the net deductions from FAAC

“It’s like at the state level you now have what is called SAAC.
You know, at the federal level, they have FAAC. So, there is an
equivalent now for FAAC at the state level. So, certain parameters
will have to be set. Everybody will be involved.

“But they are now saying, if they do that, this thing will be
zero because there are legacy debts, there are deductions you must
make upfront and all that. So, in their thinking, it will either be
very minimal or zero. So, the governors now said, ‘Can we get an
irreducible minimum? Can we arrive at an irreducible minimum that
will now make the state pay to a state legislature an irreducible
minimum because it will be different per state?’

“So, they now said the irreducible minimum for the legislative
arm should be N250 million every month. The governors look at it
and said ‘No that will be too much.’ They sat and decided that it
should be N100 million. So, the leadership of the legislature said
they were not comfortable with that. That’s for the
legislature.

“For the judiciary, it will come through NJC. So they don’t have
any problem at all with the judiciary.”

FG Hold Talks with Striking Workers Today

In a bid to end the ongoing industrial action by judicial and
legislative workers, the federal government will today hold talks
with the JUSUN and PASAN.

Deputy President of JUSUN, Mr. Emmanuel Abisoye, told THISDAY at
the weekend that the federal government team, at the meeting,
billed for Abuja would be expected to present fresh proposals for
resolving the dispute over the workers’ demand for the
implementation of financial autonomy for the judiciary and
legislative arms by the states.

“We have been invited to a meeting on Monday; may be the
government will be presenting its position to us at the meeting.
So, we are expecting that on Monday,” he said.

However, PASAN has vowed not to end its ongoing strike except
its demands are met.

It demanded that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) be signed
by all the governors and speakers of the 36 states of the
federation.

Legislative activities in state assemblies have been paralysed
since the workers downed tools on March 23.

In a letter addressed to Ngige, which was sighted by THISDAY,
the union listed five conditions for it to call off the strike.

The letter signed by Acting National Secretary of PASAN, Mr.
Ikechukwu Alaribe, listed the conditions to include the full
implementation of the financial autonomy for the state legislature
and state judiciary; and the full compliance with Presidential
Executive Order No. 10, 2020 for the implementation of financial
autonomy for the state judiciaries and legislatures.

PASAN also demanded that states assemblies’ service commissions
must be established in each state of the federation.

The union said the decision to continue with the strike was
reached after its enlarged National Executive Council (NEC)
meeting.

The union also demanded that all the 36 states must have funds
management committee bills, signed into law by the governors while
deductions should be made directly from the source to the Houses of
Assembly accounts.