The Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, on Friday said President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that the nation’s economy is in a bad shape.
Speaking with journalists, shortly after a meeting between the governors of the 36 states of the federation and the president, he said the president stressed the need for them to come together and think of a way out.
He however did not state what they discussed with the president over the situation surrounding the new minimum wage.
Shortly after their meeting on Thursday, the governors disclosed that they were going to meet with the president over the new minimum wage.
It would be recalled that the tripartite committee led by Ama Pepple had recommended N30,000 minimum wage, but the governors said they could only afford N22, 500.
The difference has been the source of a crisis between workers and the government.
Yari said speaking on the poor situation of the economy, the president complained about the amount of neglect that took place under the previous administration.
“He wondered about what happened in the past; that for the 16 years of the now opposition party, the PDP in power and with oil at 2.1 barrels per day at an average of $100, many infrastructure are in bad shape,” the governor said.
He said the president said he would make the amount of rot perpetrated under the previous governments known so that Nigerians “can weigh their choices.”
Disclosing that they also came to thank the president, Yari praised him for bailing the states out of the problem of inability to pay salaries when he came to power.
Said he: “So we came here today to thank Mr. President because in bailing out states he did not discriminate along party lines unlike in those days when you can only get audience with Mr. President if you have long leg before the issue will be raised with minister of finance. He knew that Nigerians were going to be beneficiaries of the bailout, not governors. We believe without this mindset, it would have been difficult for us to govern.”
