WORRIED by the state of the economy, governors of the 36 states of the federation have resolved to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to fashion a way out of the quagmire.
They said that they were struggling to meet up with expenditures, especially payment of salaries, because of dwindling monthly allocations.
Emerging from a meeting which ended in the early hours of Thursday at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) also threw its weight behind the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over the N1.04 trillion fine it imposed on MTN, saying that the service provider must pay up in full.
Reading the communique issued at the end of the meeting, chairman of the forum and governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, said the states could no longer bear the N18,000 minimum wage that was imposed on them when oil sold for $126 as against its present cost of $41.
He said the way out of the situation was the diversification of the economy with attention to agriculture and mining.
According to the governors: “We resolved that we must look at ways to enhance revenue generation and at the same time time look at ways to cut our overhead costs, 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 the 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 N100 million monthly allocation and they have salaries in particular of over N2 billion to pay.
“We therefore agreed here to take this suggestion to NEC in our meeting tomorrow (Thursday) so that we can be able to find ways to tackle this problem.
“And we are looking at coming together to discussing with the 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.”
On the MTN fine, Yari said that NGF’s support for the NCC came after the acting Executive Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Professor Umar Dambata, brief the governors on the matter.
He said while the forum congratulated Dambata on his appointment and pledged its commitment to engage with the NCC, the NGF also commended the regulatory agency for “its strict compliance and enforcement of the law with regard to the fine issued to MTN and advised the Federal Government to ensure prompt and full payment.”
He added: “Hence, the MTN has accepted that they committed the offence and has apologised, and they are looking for leniency, we the governors forum decided to support the NCC to abide by the laws of the land and the laws of our land do not not give leniency to deliberate offense to our nation.”
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