President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his displeasure with State Governors who were owing their workers salaries, despite the several interventions of the Federal Government at providing funds to the State Governments.
The president who spoke during a meeting in Abuja with some select governors who came to him as representatives of the Governors’ Forum, wondered how such state governors could sleep while owing workers salaries.
Buhari said “How can anyone go to bed and sleep soundly when workers have not been paid their salaries for months?”
The president further expressed his concern at how workers in such state would be coping, wondering how such workers would be able to take care of their families.
He said “I actually wonder how the workers feed their families, pay their rents and even pay school fees for their children,’’
While addressing the governors, the President said the Federal Government and States would have to work together at mapping out strategies that would help to ease the conditions of workers in Nigeria.
In their defence, Governor Abdul’Aziz Abubakar Yari of Zamfara state, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum said the various interventions by the Federal Government, which include the bailouts, were judiciously utilized by the states, stressing that the governors inherited backlog of unpaid salaries and huge debts portfolios on assumption of office.
According to Yari, the State Governors were also bothered about the situation and were trying their best to see how to manage available resources
He said “We are concerned with the situation in our states, and we are trying our best to manage the resources,’’ he said.
