A stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Nasarawa State, Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, has called on the Federal Government for the resignation of any state governor dragging feet to pay the N30,000 national minimum wage to its workforce.
Wadada, who is a former House of Representatives and a governorship aspirant on the platform of APC in the last APC primary, stressed that governors who cannot pay minimum wage were not fit to be in office.
According to Wadada, “they should honourably pack and leave their offices for those committed to the welfare and wellbeing of Nigeria workers at all levels.”
He said it was ridiculous that while some governors take between N200 to N400 million monthly as security votes, yet they cannot pay minimum wage that was less than $100 a month.
Read also: Update: Governors Agree to Pay N30,000 minimum wage according to ability of States
“It is very disturbing for anybody to be dragging feet over minimum wage. I heard of a governor who was taking one billion naira as security vote every month for eight years and when I visited the state, the man has not done anything for the people,” he said.
He also called for thorough investigation into the utilisation of bailout and budget support funds released to state governments before the commencement of deductions by the Federal Government.
The funds are not largesse but meant to assist in the development of their respective states, he said.
The former lawmaker said it was only right that investigations were conducted to find out how the funds were spent before the commencement of repayment process.
“I commend President Muhammadu Buhari who said that the money is not just a largess but a bailout, an intervention to provide succour to the state governments,” he said.
He called on governors to look at their respective handover notes to verify how such funds were utilised by their predecessors.
