 |
|
Adams
Oshiomhole
|
Edo State governor Adams
Oshiomhole has said that the payment of ₦18,000
minimum wage should not be a burden to any state governor. Speaking with State House
correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at
the State House, Abuja yesterday, Oshiomhole said that welfare of the people
is the main business of the leaders.
Leadership report continues:
He
said: “With due respect to my colleagues, it is offensive to talk about minimum
wage. How can the food of the steward be the reason that the elders cannot eat.
I mean by conventional wisdom. If there is crisis in the system, it’s the
excess fat that will share fats not the skeletons. The idea of using minimum is
very offensive.”
According
to him, the problem with Nigeria is that each time the country is confronted
with a serious economic problem, the leaders look at the escape route option.
He
advised that every state has to take its own independent evaluation the nature
of its own problems and design appropriate policy instrument to deal with those
problems as they relate to each state.
“The
problem in one state is not the same with the one in Edo State. Everybody will
have to deal with its own. Lastly I also think that if anybody wants to talk
about federalism, let’s not talk about federalism where it affects the wages of
the lowest paid.
“I
have asked this question why should Edo State governor receive the same salary
as the governor of Lagos State when the population of Lagos State is doubled
that of Edo state and their GDP is much higher. Why should I receive the same
pay as the governor of Zamfara state or Akwa Ibom, these states are richer by
accident of location.
He
said, “If we want to preach this principle we are in a federal system,
everybody should pay according to his cost of living, the cost of governing Edo
state is not the same cost as governing Lagos State. So why should the revenue
mobilization fix my pay and that of Lagos State. If we want to run a true
federalism, start from the top that is leading by example.”
He
also pointed out that the former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
be included in the ongoing probe of alleged US$2.1bn arms purchase.
According
to him, Okonjo-Iweala, who was also the coordinating Minister of the Economy
under Goodluck Jonathan administration had a lot of explanations to make
regarding how the funds spent by the former NSA were appropriated and released.
“We can’t protect people at
the top and attack the people at the bottom and this has nothing to do with the
fact that I was once a labour leader. Even if I was the truth remains that
wages is not a burden to the economy. People need to understand that if we are
not careful, assuming we are suggesting we abolish wages, we have no money,
people don’t earn and therefore they cannot spend, they are excluded from the
economy, that fact of exclusion will have devastating impact on the consumption
level of the economy.
No comments:
Post a Comment