Gov David Umahi of Ebonyi on Wednesday in Abakaliki, declared that 95
per cent of states in the country cannot pay the proposed N30,000
minimum wage to workers.
Umahi, who is the Chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum, said
this while inaugurating a 36-member fact-finding committee to ascertain
the mode of workers’ promotion arrears payment in states across the six
geo-political zones of the states.
According to Umahi, the payment of the N30, 000 can only be realised
if the federation account allocation formula is reviewed to offer more
earnings to states.
“The federal government collects 52 per cent of the revenue from the
federation account and when I tried to put the N30,000 figure to Local
Government Areas (LGA) it means they will borrow N1billion to add to
their allocation, in paying salaries.
“I will definitely not be a governor to govern such a state and will
never preside over a state that will allocate 100 per cent of its
earnings to pay salaries,” he said.
The governor recommended that the issue of petroleum subsidy in the
country should also be reviewed as had been noted by the state and
federal governments.
“We must presently have the courage to say this because a lot of money can be saved from the subsidy if properly distributed.
“When 100, 000 litres of petrol is allocated to me for instance and
deducted from my allocation, it is then my business to ensure that there
is no leakage.
“There is no governor or political office holder that signs cheques
but civil servants as the country’s leaders and labour are just putting
water inside a basket and praying God to hold it with this minimum wage
issue,” he said.
He urged the country’s leaders and labour to liaise and decide on the
percentage of the federation account that should be voted for salaries
and other sectors.
“We should determine how much should be allocated to education,
health, infrastructure among others if 100 per cent of earnings are used
to pay workers salaries.
“Many states are experiencing various problems and cannot pay
salaries but the people condemn their governments over their inability
to provide good roads and other amenities.
“People don’t understand the problems being experienced by these
states and the governors have kept quiet for long and need to speak
presently,” he said.
Umahi regretted that the issue of promotion arrears for workers in
the state had lingered for long and urged the committee to be sincere
with their findings to find an amicable solution to it.
“We have been setting up committees on this issue and getting no
results with people not being sincere and resorting to all sorts of
things,” Umahi added.