BURNING POT BY PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Why governors cannot pay 18k The Zamfara
State Governor and chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara has said it was extremely necessary for the state
governors, the presidency and the Nigerian Labour
Congress, NLC to negotiate over the N18K minimum wage. The governor said that the dwindling oil prices has drastically affected the revenue generation of
most States which can no longer pay salaries of workers. He stated that therefore no need living
under pretense when in reality, the revenues were not coming. Yari who fielded
questions from State House Correspondents after a private meeting with
president Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday at the
presidential villa also denied making categorical statement on pruning down
the wage. He said: “Let me make it very clear to
Nigerians, Governor’s Forum is not the enemy of labour
in any way. Rather, we have been working together. “Although in the decision, we never said
that we are going to stop the payment of N18K minimum wage but we are looking
at the situation in the country and in the global economy. “What we said is that when the National
Assembly enacted the law of paying N18K minimum wage, then the oil was about
$118 per barrel and today where we are oil is $41 per barrel. “So, if it continues like that,
definitely, we will find it difficult to continue. We have to sit down with
the labour and see how we can review, either continue or downsizing or what we are going to do. We want
to find a solution because we have to be realistic that we have so many
things to touch. There is infrastructure deficit, there is need for security,
and there are other things like social lives of our people and nation as a
state. “The receipt from federation account,
some people received N400 million, N500 million. Some others received N55
million, two digits. And there are other issues, not even the salary; their
pension is over a billion. So, how can we continue borrowing and servicing
the service aspect of our expenditure, or overhead? How can we do that? “Therefore we are saying that we should
tighten our belts. Something definitely, we should sit down and come out of
it to find a way we are going to do it realistically or otherwise.” The dude further went on to argue why it
was easy for both Governors Adams Oshiomole and Nyesom Wike of Edo and Rivers
States respectively, could possibly pay the 18K; Yari
said that the States were rich with industries that in turn raise their
Internally Generated Revenue, IGR. He regretted that some States such as his
were not that lucky as most of their revenue generating institutions had been
shut down due to power shortages. “For instance, in my state, the tiny
state that is my own which has more than 3 textile plants because of energy
all have been closed, NNPC shut down. We have about 37 gunneries because of
shortage of power they all closed down. And these are places where we can
earn our revenue. You cannot in anyway rub shoulder with Rivers who has giant
companies in oil exploration and having so many thousands of staff that are
paying their dues when due. One only needs one read to know that
Nigerians are in trouble if Governor Yari’s view is
a true representation of 90% of the men that overseer the affairs of state.
Apart from the salient issues of fiscal federalism he unconsciously raised,
one can see that many of these men called governors lack the initiative to
power the ships that they captain. Very quickly let me remind my readers
that only in February last year I had asked sarcastically what really do
Nigerian governors do, while outlining a few things they do...may be
pertinent in helping us understand why they cannot pay salaries. So, the men that are asking us to tighten
our belts are the same men that on a personal note, entitled to four wives if
Muslim, and a wife if a Christian, but scores of them keep a convent/harem of
concubines, girlfriends and mistresses,’ In other words, as a governor in
Nigeria you cannot/should not be faithful at home, by extension you owe those
you govern very little and owe much to your harem/party and godfathers. How
can they pay 18K? Our governors who cannot pay 18K are
entitled to senior special assistants/special assistants/advisers (both
senior and junior)/countless aides and yes consultants on various subject
matters. Which allows for governors to spend an average of
11 full days only in a month at the office and in the state. The rest
is spent gallivanting, wedding, naming ceremony, birthday, and death-day,
church and mosque occasions, attend meetings in Abuja, and flexing in caucus
meetings. Off course all these happen when they are
not in Brazil, Kosovo, Kabul or Kazakhstan seeking investors. In recent
times, one governor has gone as far as Chelsea football club to watch
football; (sorry) look for investors. There is no governor in Nigeria that
spends an average of 4 hours everyday, 15 days a
month and 9 months a year in the office, taking his leave as at when due and
handing over to the right person temporarily. But trust me,
these 'guys' are working so HARD, indeed very HARD to pay 18K. Our governors tell us how difficult the
art of state governance is, and you sure would agree, contending with the
opposition, with political enemies from different camps, and sure spending
billions unaccounted for must be one hell of a job. Recently I asked how much do our
governors earn for all the hard work? And very few could say. No wonder every
one of them tells us how they were all millionaires before they became
governors. Yet they cannot pay 18K! Is there any Nigerian governor with just
two cars, with kids in public schools, and less than N100M, then I will show
you a lazy governor. Today in assets and cash there is no governor who is not
a billionaire. Beyond 18K minimum wage, we need to start
asking questions; we need to demand answers to issues of governance. An old
axiom speaks of not touching a blind man's hand while eating with him...for
how long our leaders will continue to touch our hands while they eat--only
time will tell. |