The governors,who met under the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGFat a meeting which ended in the early hours of Thursday, November 19, at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, the governors, said they are not able to cope with expenditure, especially payment of salaries because of reduction in monthly allocation as a result of the fall in oil prices.
Chairman of the Forum and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, who read the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting said states could no longer bear the N18,000 minimum wagethat was imposed on them when oil sold for $126 as against its present cost of $41.
Yari said the only way out of the situation was the diversification of the economy.
“We resolved that we must look at ways to enhance revenue generation and at the same time look at ways to cut our overhead costs more especially the political office holders’ salaries and other overhead expenses.
“The situation is no longer the same when we were asked to pay N18,000 minimum wage, when oil price was $126 (per barrel) and continued paying N18,000 minimum wage when oil is $41 and the source of government expenditure is from oil, and we have not seen prospects in the oil industry in the near future.
“We will diversify our economy in the area of agriculture and mining. But at the same time, we should understand our situation where some of us (states) today are taking N100m take home (monthly allocation) and have salaries in particular of over N2bn to pay.
“We therefore agreed here to take this suggestion to NEC so that we can be able to find ways to tackle this problem.
“And we are looking at coming together to discussing with Mr. President and his team, with governors, technocrats and experts in the economy to see how we can tackle our troubled situation. We are working harder to deal with it,” Yari said.
