The governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Fashola, has challenged the minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to a public debate over her comment that the states are responsible for their inability to pay salaries.
The outgoing governor, who spoke during an interview with journalists from select media houses, added that the debate would enable the public to understand that the country made a budget on the basis of certain assumptions.
Fashola said: “I won’t want to have a public debate with the Finance Minister because if it was a matter she was willing to debate, let her call a meeting and we will have a public debate on it. I think the sense for the public to understand is that the country made a budget on the basis of certain assumptions. There was a national budget. Those assumptions have become unrealistic.
“If you are leading a family, and your children or members of your household trust you or trust your leadership, and you say that these are the things that you expect to happen; that this road is safe, let us walk it together and that road turns out to be unsafe because the nation did not earn enough, so your assumptions were faulty and what the nation earned is mired in debate and controversy about how accurate the accounting has been in terms of oil proceeds and sales.
“Is it morally right to say it was the fault of the children that they couldn’t go to school when the revenue and resources to go to school had been halved because you led them to believe that this amount would come in? I think the time has come when people must take responsibility for their actions and to say ‘you know what, I got this wrong. I am sorry.’
“It is possible for the uninformed members of the public to misunderstand that statement and think that they couldn’t pay salaries because they didn’t want to pay. But the admission you must first make is that their income has declined. Let us go forward and all of us must understand this: the money that goes to each state from the federation account is for the entire state, not for the public service.
According to Fashola, the money from the federal government to the states is not just to pay salaries alone but also for water, road, security and other things. “After paying salaries, government cannot fold its hands to security and it cannot close its eyes to health care issues. It seems to me that if there were more revenue, the states would not be in this position. That does not suggest that all the right choices have been made,” he stated.
He added: “I think the larger issue that I want to address is that it provokes us to rethink the viability of the current state structure. When the debate for the creation of more states started, one of the things I said was that I did not think we should have more states. One of things I said – and I think I was the only one who said it – was that it was time for people to think out of the box; that the states that felt they were not viable on their own could merge.
“Some people had some scathing words for me on that matter. But the way I view life is that if you unbundle something and it does not work, you must have the courage to put it back. And we cannot entrap ourselves that there is no other answer. The same way that we put back the decentralised Police Force many years ago, we are now afraid to unbundle it again. But it is not working. This is the way that I think public trust and even our private lives should be.”
Okonjo-Iweala had about two weeks back revealed that Nigeria had no money to pay salaries to government workers, blaming the falling oil prices for the situation.
A group, the Centre for Social Justice, had also urged a federal high court in Abuja to send Okonjo-Iweala to jail for contempt of court.
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I have been reporting on latest news from Nigeria for almost 10 years now. I report on every possible news area I come across, but always ensure my reports are compiled with dignity and fact to uphold my personal values and duty as a journalist
Posted: at 23-05-2015 07:40 AM (8 years ago) | Addicted Hero
This is pure hipocrisy cos when Fashiola deported some Nigerians to anambra state, he never apologised now he wants okonjo iwuala to apologise for wrong
Posted: at 23-05-2015 08:04 AM (8 years ago) | Upcoming
sleekguy247 at 23-05-2015 08:05 AM (8 years ago) (m)
Fashola has shown he is indeed an entity Nigerians should not Miss, If i was GMB, Fashola would be my Major front Man in my Economic development Process. Hew knows his onus.
Posted: at 23-05-2015 08:05 AM (8 years ago) | Newbie
Fashola has shown he is indeed an entity Nigerians should not Miss, If i was GMB, Fashola would be my Major front Man in my Economic development Process. Hew knows his onus.
I wonder what are the basis for your summation, because lagos state has the highest debt profile per income in Nigeria under Fashiola.
Posted: at 23-05-2015 08:22 AM (8 years ago) | Upcoming
Activated at 23-05-2015 09:37 AM (8 years ago) (m)
FASHOLA FOR ONCE I WILL DISAGREE WITH YOU. IF THE ISSUES THAT LED TO THE DECLINE OF OIL REVENUE WAS IN NGOZI'S HAND THEN ALL BLAME SHOULD GO TO HER BUT NOT WHEN NGOZI DOESN'T CONTROL THE FACTORS THAT LED TO OIL DECLINE.
EVEN WITH A FAMILY FROM YOUR ANALOGY, PARENTS HAVE A STIPULATED AMOUNT THEY EARN EVERY MONTH. IF FOR CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND THEIR CONTROL THEIR MONEY WAS HALVED THEN IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT THAT THE CHILDREN'S EDUCATION IS TRUNCATED.
ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS EXPLAIN TO THEIR CHILDREN THAT THEY ARE NOT BE ING PAID WELL WHICH EVERY SANE NIGERIA KNOWS THAT OIL REVENUE HAS DECLINE. SO I DON'T SEE ANY EXPLAINATION YOU NEED COS THE EXPLAINATION HAD ALREADY BEEN MADE. THANKS.
Posted: at 23-05-2015 09:37 AM (8 years ago) | Upcoming
Hello Friends on naijapals, i will appreciate if you guys can take some time to read this, although i am not supporting anyone here and am not faulting anyone either but i think from my own understanding and a little knowledge from my field, i studied economics in nigeria and did finance in the uk and bn in the uk for a while now. But it is a disgrace that Nierian states cant afford to pay salaries which is less than 50% of over head cost, everything went wrong from the finance minister am sorry to say this but her job during nigerias budgeting was totally wrong because they based the country's budget solely on oil price which she presumed to be 150 dollar per barrel and unfortunately the oil price dropped even before we start running the budget to about $50 a barrel, obviously nigeria was already running at a deficit even before the so called budget was signed. Where i fault her is that all other countries sufer this problem as well but they all saw this coming, especially there was a finance firm in America that predicted the fall of oil price base on facts and figures but Nigerian govt refuse to listen to this warning cos we lack the foresight and good planning commitee. so at the moment Nigeria is running on a spare wheel. and only states which generates funds else aside from government coffers will be able to manage to run smoothly, every other state without will suffer the same fate
Posted: at 23-05-2015 10:47 AM (8 years ago) | Newbie
only states which generates funds else aside from government coffers will be able to manage to run smoothly, every other state without will suffer the same fate [/quote] this calls for a proper appreciation of the oil producing states without which the country would ve been broke.
Posted: at 23-05-2015 03:41 PM (8 years ago) | Upcoming
What of countries that don't produce oil don't they pay salaries. I beg Mr Fasola if you are owing lagos workers, pay them. It's mainly Apc states that owe their workers. Benue, Imo, rivers, lagos, osun states. Why.
Posted: at 23-05-2015 04:21 PM (8 years ago) | Upcoming
Fashola is a daft. Your analogy is completely out of reality. APC states are the most indebted and SW should bencareful to think that this government belongs to them. Buhari's fulanis will block yorubas from achieving their heart desires in this government. It's a matter of time.
Posted: at 23-05-2015 10:04 PM (8 years ago) | Upcoming
This issues started when the so called National Budget could not be defend by the Minister of Finance herself because of wrong Planning. And the treasure could not be manage very well under her administration with all the issues of missing money When you FAIL to PLAN, you PLAN to FAIL. Its simple
Posted: at 24-05-2015 05:47 AM (8 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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