We Are In TROUBLE...Fayose Raises Alarm Over Economy

Ekiti state Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has lamented that the Nigerian is grinding to a halt with the current economic situation encroaching the country.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, in Ado- Ekiti,the state capital, the gover­nor noted that the economic issue at stake was grievous and not what people should toy with using political propaganda.

He raised an alarm over the the situation where funds that accrue to all the tiers of government were no longer enough to pay workers’ salaries.

“This month’s statu­tory allocation is the worst in the history of our state. We got a net allocation of N1.4 billion at state level while the salary of workers is N2.6 billion monthly. At the local government level, 16 council areas got a little over N1 billion, while the wage bill there is over N2 billion monthly. He stated.

“Payment of salaries at both state and local govern­ment levels is impossible with such allocations. And government still has some basic needs to meet. The other time I said the Fed­eral Government should come to the open on the state of our national econ­omy, some people frowned at it.

“Now, a national paper has quoted the president as saying that Nigeria is broke and that it might be dif­ficult to pay ministers that will soon come on board. It is vital that the Federal Government tell Nigeri­ans the blueprint it has for the economy. The issue at stake is beyond politics.

“If the trend continues, in the next few months, all the tiers of govern­ment may not even be able to pay a month salary to workers if three statutory allocations are combined,” the governor said.

Appealing to work­ers in the state to bear with the government, he disclosed that a meeting of all stakeholders in the sharing of monthly allocation would soon hold to chart the way for­ward.

“We have been transpar­ent as far as the revenue coming to the purse of the state is concerned. Since we came on board, labour leaders and heads of state agencies have always met where we disclose how much comes in and the people will decide how to spend it. He further explained.