The Rivers State
Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has again declared that Nigeria is broke and
blamed the inability of the state and others to pay workers’ salaries and
pensions on the nation’s current poor financial condition.
Amaechi said that the
nation’s economic condition could be noticed through the dwindling statutory
monthly allocation usually received by the state from the Federal Government.
Speaking during a
thanksgiving service organised by the governorship candidate of the All
Progressives Congress, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, and his campaign outfit, the
Greater Campaign Organisation in Port Harcourt on Sunday, the governor recalled
that he was described as an alarmist last year when he cried out over Nigeria’s
poor financial state.
Amaechi pointed out
that the nation’s economy had continued to fall since he made the statement in
December 2014.
“When I said sometime
last year that Nigeria’s finances was in a dire strait, some people referred to
me as an alarmist. Since I made that statement in December last year, the
statutory allocation to the state has continued to decline.
“Now, almost all the
states are finding it difficult to pay salaries. The state government owes
civil servants their April salaries and pensioners’ four months’ salary arrears
because the state does not have the money to pay them,” the governor said.
Amaechi explained that
he decided to channel financial resources towards the completion of ongoing
projects, which he promised would be completed before the end of his
administration on May 29, 2015.
He said, “Some people
have chosen to make an issue of the difficulty we are currently experiencing in
paying the salaries of civil servants as well as the arrears of our retirees.
It is not our making.
“No government will
deliberately refuse to pay the salaries of its workers. We will pay as soon as
we receive our share of our statutory monthly allocation from the Federal
Government.
“It is not easy to
joggle the payment of salaries and the implementation of capital projects that
are actually geared towards developing the state, creating jobs and improving
the economy of the state because more monies go into the society when you award
contracts and pay the contractors on time so that they can also pay their
workers on time.”
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