Why FG is owing Jonathan, Obasanjo, IBB, Gowon, others 10 months salaries

A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the non-payment of former Presidents was due to President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to give approval. The source also said the payment schedule had severally been sent for the President’s approval to assess funds in the service wide vote for the purpose, adding that all attempts in that direction were to no avail. The SGF attributed the non-payment of the former leaders to the unavailability of funds in service wide votes for salaries of ex-Presidents.

He said: “There is a department responsible for payment of former President. At present, funds are not available in service wide votes to do that. ‘’We are aware there was a protest in Bayelsa State that the former President was not paid, but we’ve explained that he’s not the only one affected. “Others affected are inter-religious council, traditional rulers council and so on. For some reasons, we have been writing and writing, but there has been no response. And there is currently no money to pay them. “The budget for this year’s Democracy Day was N33 million, and we had to do it on credit, we are yet to pay.

There are lots of retreat which ought to be organised but there’s no money to do any. The last time we got any release was in August.” But reacting to the development, the senators kicked against the non-payment of the former Presidents, and insisted that joint efforts be made between the office of the SGF and the committee towards finding a solution to the problem they described as unfortunate. The lawmakers, who expressed their dismay over the development, also emphasized the need to draw the attention of the Budget Office and Ministry of Finance to the development, with a view to addressing the issue immediately. Vice chairman of the committee, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, who described the situation as abnormal, said: “What we have seen here is an abnormality. Before referring any matter to the National Assembly, it is a function of the executive to appropriate funds. ‘’Therefore, the SGF should understand that there is something wrong in this office that must be addressed. “There is no way you can run the expenses of this office without cash backing. We definitely have to draw the attention of the Budget Office and Ministry of Finance to the problems.”