Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed in a live interview broadcast on state-owned radio stations spoke on contemporary issues, including the new Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari and the governance of his state. Excerpt:

There is a lot of controversy over the issue of bailout for states that are owing salaries. What is really the issue?

I recall we had a meeting with the President and subsequently the Vice-President on the National Economic Council (NEC) platform where governors outlined critical issues facing their various states. One common platform was that states are under financial pressure and they require that the federal government should intervene in critical areas to help support the current financial crisis.

The first one was the issue of our federal projects we have executed at state levels which we expect the federal government to kindly help defray those costs. A typical example in Kwara is the Ilesha–Baruba–Kosubosu road where we executed the project some few years back. The federal government has started the payment. But over the last three, four years, no single remittances were made. Those are the kind of projects we are asking the federal government to pay back so that we can have some money in our pocket.

The second one is the issue of all other monies that have accrued into the federation allocation account in the name of the revenue either in form of excess crude or in form of dividends. However, it was generally agreed that the excess crude money should not be shared yet. What should be shared is the inflow from the dividend that is accruable to the federal government, states and local governments.

Don't forget the federation allocation account is a revenue account, it is an account that receives revenue to be shared by the three tiers of government. So, any money that comes in there automatically becomes available for sharing to the three tiers of government.

So, the money that came in as a result of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) dividends to Nigerian government which was meant to be shared. It has always been meant to be shared. The only difference is that, in the past under the last Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government administration, we never saw anything with respect to dividends. It was only this last time that it became notable to us that such accruals would come in. And when it came in, we requested that this money should be shared. That was what shared in the last few months.

The third portion of it is the issue of bailout. The bailout has to do with the restructuring of existing loans. If you look at it, states have not been able to pay salaries as a result of two things-the first one is that there has been a major drop in the federation allocation. The second one is that states have incurred debt that has made their cash flow to be under pressure. By the time they repay the loan, they would have little left to carry on with normal business. Don't forget that these loan repayments are usually first-line charges. So, that is why a lot of states came under financial pressure.

However, the issue of bailout that has been a major issue of discourse. People are expecting that the monies are going to be sent to states to pay salaries and other financial commitments. That is not how bailout will work. What we mean by bailout and what the federal government truly means by bailout is the restructure of existing loans that states are owing banks and other financial institutions in such a way and manner that the pressure on the monthly repayment is lessened.

In other words, this much-talked about bailout is just being worked out. It has not got to any state yet because we are just submitting the level of debt that all states have incurred. In Kwara, for instance, our loan profile is very small compared to all these states. That is why even when this loan is restructured, we would not benefit much from the much-talked about bailout. It is those states that have heavy loan that would benefit.

The federal government is taking over the loan from the various banks and institutions that they owe. So, that is what we mean by bailout. Just like the word, 'bail', if you are bailed from the police counter, it does not mean that the case has been discharged. You are only allowed a temporary breathing space. It is to give states a temporary breathing space to restructure their loans. The same loans, it is not being over-written.

Nobody should imagine that any money would be given to states to pay out any outstanding debt. The money that has come to us which is the money that we called the dividends under the NLNG is the money that should have been shared whether there is a bailout or there is no bailout, whether there is financial pressure or there is no financial pressure. The money should have been paid to us anyway because it is due that is supposed to be paid to the three tiers of government. So, that money is not part of bailout. It is part of the normal share of any revenue that accrues into the federation allocation.

So, if anybody under any guise imagined that that money that was shared was the bailout for the payment of salaries, it was a wrong information. Now, it depends on each state. Some states that have financial pressure could use it to offset their financial pressures. For us, we used part of it to defray some financial pressures in salaries.

We met other financial obligations. Why we used it that way was to enable our people celebrate the Eid-el-fitri. But don’t forget the money was not meant to be used to pay salaries as it were. It was our share of the NLNG money which we decided under our own wisdom to help our people have a peaceful and a joyous Sallah celebration.

The PDP claimed you received and diverted N3 billion bailout fund. How true is that?

Firstly, it is false. I am surprised that at this level, having gone through the kind of electioneering campaign that we went through and achieved a successful election process, I think this type of information dissemination from the opposition should have stopped. Information that is available in the public domain should not be misinterpreted. It is not right. Kwarans do not deserve wrong information. Everybody heard that the NLNG money had been credited into the federation account to the tune of about USD 2.1 billion. This is the same money that has been shared to the federal, states and local governments. It is by choice for any state to apply the money as it wishes based on financial pressure. For us in Kwara State, we opted to use it to address salaries at local and state government levels and also to meet other state exigencies.

For anybody to have said we have collected a bailout, he is either demonstrating ignorance or demonstrating mischief. Either way Kwara State indigenes do not deserve wrong information. They deserve to get constructive criticism in form of right information to make them understand what is going on. When you say something that is not right, you are misinforming the public. The truth of the matter is that Kwara State collected N2.1 billion and the local governments collected N1.4 billion. This money has gone into the payment of salaries at both levels, which of course, is not even enough because we had to meet other commitments. Don’t forget the job of governance is not just about salaries. There are other subventions that require to be paid.

Ordinarily, the money shouldn’t have been used to pay salaries. We would have been using it to augment salaries. But our people requested for salaries to celebrate Sallah. That was why we made the money available.

You recently said that Kwarans should be ready to sacrifice. What sacrifices should they make in this administration?

The sort of sacrifice we expect Kwarans to experience is not the sacrifice to the extent that we create any major burden on them. Rather we want to see a high level of increased compliance, for instance, toward the internally generated revenue efforts. One key issue that has come out is that unless we beef up our internally generated revenue, we are not likely going to come out of this current financial quagmire because it is very clear that the federally allocated funds would not grow beyond the levels they are in now in the near future. The only option we have, as we are not going to be the major beneficiaries of this much-talked about bailout because our loans are not too high, is that our own efforts in meeting with the much desired financial requirement would be in driving the internally generated revenue. That is why we have sought to change the face and process.

The use of technology will drive the internally generated revenue. I want to use this method to let people know that this is the only way Kwara State can truly begin to live as Kwarans under the same comfort that we have always lived by ensuring that our civil servants are paid regularly and our projects are also carried on regularly. If we do not look for additional revenue and we sit on the federal revenue, it cannot take us to the promised land.

For instance, at the beginning of 2011, we were collecting about N3.2 billion. But today, we are on about 1.5 to N1.6 billion. So, where is the difference going to come from unless we look for external money? The only way external money can come in is only through the internally generated revenue.

Some people are tagging the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is very slow, what is your response to this?

I would be very surprised if people imagine that the current federal system run under the presidency of President Muhammadu Buhari is being tagged as slow. We are all living witnesses to the level of economic mismanagement that we went through in the last administration. We are all living witnesses to a very poor transition process between the last administration and this administration. No matter what plans that the current administration has at the federal level, it cannot just jump on ground and begin to hit the ground running. Otherwise, it would sink. It requires the creation of a solid platform.

It requires the need to draw a line. If there had been a smooth transition, then it would have been easy to draw a line. But there is no smooth transition. So, where do you want to start from? No matter how sweet your picture is and you want to build a house, you must start from the foundation. If the foundation is weak, no matter how you try to put up anything , it will fall from the top.

What is your take on the crisis in the National Assembly?

The National Assembly is going through a normal process of democracy, it is a process we expect to smoothen out and will take us to the level where we would begin to see the sort of change that would make Nigeria a better place to live in.