Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday challenged governors of the 36 states of Nigeria to devise ways of clearing the backlog of salaries they are owing workers in their states.
Buhari who spoke when he inaugurated the National Economic Council noted that non payment of salaries is causing hardship to workers across Nigeria.
The President also challenged the governors to more prudent in their financial affairs in view of the present state of the nation’s finances while also looking inward in order to boost their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to supplement income from the Federation Account.
“Your Excellencies, it is evident that the task of ensuring growth, job creation and equity, is quite enormous. Consequently, we must kick-start this process by cultivating a culture of prudent management of resources at all levels of government.
“This will entail looking inwards to secure sustainable ways of increasing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), and harnessing growth potentials of each state to supplement the Federation Account allocation to states.
“I therefore urge council members to consider, as a matter of urgency, exploring efficient means of gradually liquidating all unpaid salaries of staff, which have brought untold hardship to thousands of families.”
The President also asked the states to undertake only projects that will meet immediate needs of the people within available resources while they should also cooperate closely on projects like interstate and feeder roads, soil erosion, desertification and other developmental programmes.
“I would like also, as a former governor myself to remind us the need for neighbouring states to cooperate closely on projects such as interstate and feeder roads, soil erosion, desertification and other developmental programmes,” he stated.
He also advised the governors to remove politics from developmental programmes.
“Our country is one and we who have the responsibility to run it should lead by example. As far as is …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
