Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has said that concerning non-payment of salaries in states, the Federal government is also in bad shape.
Oshiomhole made this statement during a programme on Channels Television titled, “View from the top”.
He said “When analysts and commentators allude to the facts which everybody can see that many states, maybe as much as two-thirds of the states, are not up to date in payment of salaries, allowances and other obligations to their work force, what is not often stated is the fact that the Federal Government is just in the same bad shape.
“The only thing for us is that under the immediate past minister of finance, they have borrowed rather recklessly in trillions of naira to meet the wage obligation of the Federal Government.
“For example, Jonathan can be said to pay wages, only to the extent that Okonjo-Iweala borrowed from CBN, from various bond instruments, including drawing down over N3 trillion from pension funds. So, civil servant savings, what we call the workers’ capital in the trade union parlance, is what the former minister drew from heavily to fund the wages of federal employees.
“That is one-quarter of the truth. What you should have asked her is that if they assume that the Federal Government is a responsible manager who believes a rainy day is coming under Okonjo-Iweala and you have me and the 35 others who are reckless, you should have asked her where are the federal savings meant for a rainy day?
“All the 36 states plus Abuja share 26 per cent of the money. This means for every N100 that Nigeria earns, 36 state governors share N26 while N52.6 goes to the Federal Government plus ecology and other deductions.
“There are other organisations whose funds ought to flow directly into the Federation Account and they never flowed there – Nigeria Ports Authority, various institutions, the health sector, the maritime sector, NNPC, various agencies, the gas sector – all of these ought to flow into the FAC and they never got there.
“The governors have control over their share which is 26 per cent. Mr. Federal Government has control of 52.6 per cent. Where are Okonjo-Iweala’s savings of the federal portion? If she can show where she saved it, then you can proceed to say she was right. She didn’t save for the Federal Government for a rainy day.”
Oshiomhole also urged President Muhamadu Buhari to stop importation of Rice in the country.
Furthermore former Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion has said he will be the one to choose the next governor of Edo State next year.
Igbinedion said this at the residence of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) during his administration, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
He said “Whoever is going to be the next governor of the state must be one of the founding members of the PDP in the state. And must also be a member of the ‘family’.”
He noted that the people of the state would be happy once the choice of the party is made known.