States can’t pay salaries, APC governors tell Buhari

The governors raised the concern during a meeting with the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari.
Those that attended the meeting were mainly from General Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking to reporters shortly after the meeting, Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha said they briefed the president-elect about the economic difficulties facing the states.
He said: “One of the issues of concern to all of us is the state of the Nigerian economy, which is really in bad shape.
“We have come to notify the incoming president … on the challenges ahead of him. As it is today, most states of the federation have not been able to pay salaries, and even the federal government has not paid its April salaries”.
He said the situation was worrisome as the salaries continued to accumulate.
He said there was a huge expectation from Nigerians after Buhari was elected, adding that they wanted the president-elect to do everything possible to bring about a bailout.
Okorocha said governors hoped to support the president-elect even as he called on all members of the other political parties to help rebuild the country.
“What we have done so far is to inform the president about the situation and we have made suggestions and we think the president will … look deeper into how to solve this ugly situation,” he added.
On sharing of positions and offices, he said: “No, that is too early today, but as a party, of course we shall all work together to make sure that there is an equitable distribution of the positions.”  
In his response, General Buhari who noted that the expectations from Nigerians were high, appealed for patience.
He said despite the huge revenues the country had earned since the 1990s, it was sad that non-payment of salaries continued to dog successive administrations.
He said his government would introduce measures that would stop corruption and other unethical practices in the system to sustain the economy.
“For this to be corrected please give the incoming government a chance. Here, I will like to recall what happened during the Abacha regime which led to the emergence of the PTF” he said.
Buhari explained that being a military regime, the Abacha administration could have its way, but it told Nigerians that there was going to be increase in prices of petroleum products but that the money raised would be put aside for development.
He added: “With the backlog of salaries which are of immediate concern to individuals and states, I think we should look for a better way to address the issue and think of how to persuade people to give us a chance to organise the economy immediately and get something to pay salaries.”
The president-elect also said that while security remained his first agenda because of its importance to development, he would make sure that people give his administration a chance to stabilize the economy.
He lamented what he called the destruction of social infrastructure, especially in education.
Buhari said he would do everything within his powers to make sure every part of the country is safe.