Pan-Yoruba association, Afenifere Renewal Group, has warned that given the drop in the price of crude oil, 24 states may not be able to pay salaries next year if the structure of government bureaucracies is not changed.

The group said this in its report on critical review of Nigeria’s economic and political governance in Lagos on Wednesday.

The report, which was signed by the group’s national chairman, Olawale Oshun, added that it was unfortunate that 60 per cent of public expenditure went to the servicing of bureaucracies.

It read, “Nigeria is over-governed with a bloated Federal Government, 36 state government bureaucracies, one FCT administration, and 774 Local Government Areas. When budgets of all these government tiers are collated, more than 60 per cent of all public expenditure in Nigeria goes to service these bureaucracies that consist of less than three per cent of Nigeria’s population.

“This high cost of governance is the reason we cannot fund the delivery of critical infrastructure and social programmes. High cost of governance contributes to high cost of doing business, which, in turn, reduces Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global market.

“Unfortunately, current economic realities show that Nigeria can no longer fund these bureaucracies as some states now owe workers as much as four months’ wages, with no respite in sight. One would not be a Prophet of Doom to say there is a high probability that two-third of states in Nigeria might not be able to pay salaries in 2015. This is another threat to political stability as social vices and malfeasance would increase.”

The group, therefore, recommended that the country went back to the regional system of government as practised in the First Republic or the adoption of the six geo-political zones as federating units.

The group further called for the abolition of the Excess Crude Account and the elimination of importation of refined petroleum products as well as the maximum devolution of powers to the federating units.

The group lamented the marginalisation of the Yoruba under the Goodluck Jonathan administration and wondered why all the heads of government financial organisations were of Igbo extraction.

It said, “Nigerians should be concerned because the 2015 general elections will not replenish the country’s depleted tank of political stability if certain reforms are not pursued as urgently as possible.

“In the absence of socio-political and economic justice, nepotism and ethnocentrism have taken over as the emblem of our presidential politics. For instance, it is difficult not to read meaning to the fact that under the current administration, all economic agencies like the Central Bank of Nigeria, Security and Exchange Commission, Debt Management Office, and Finance Ministry, are headed by experts from one ethnic nationality.”
Source http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/threads/24-nigerian-states-wont-pay-salaries-in-2015-afenifere-punch.105904/

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