IT is no longer news that the prices of crude oil in the international oil market have plummeted to an all time low price of between 50 to 65 Dollars per barrel.  What is rather new is the negative consequences the fallen oil prices is having on the Nigeria’s economy with tales of poor performing state governments renting the air.
The situation has degenerated to the point that a good number of states are unable to meet their financial obligations to their workers in terms of payment of wages and salaries.
Interestingly, the problem of default in salary payment cuts across the political divide as both the states controlled by the current ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the in coming All Progressives Congress (APC).
Therefore, the problem can not be said to be politically motivated by the ruling party against their opponents as some persons in time past tried to make us believe in their bid to score cheap political point.
Failure by states or even the federal government to pay salaries to their respective work force had not been anything new in the Nigeria’s socio-economic discourse, what is rather new is the brazen resignation to fate by those whose responsibility it is to manage the resources of state for the wellbeing of their citizens including persons in their employment.
How else would you describe the All Progressives Congress  governors lamenting the inability of most state governments to pay workers salaries on account of the dwindling oil revenues from the Federation Account.
The governors did not stop there; they contended when they paid a solidarity visit to the president-elect General Muhammadu Buhari at the Defence House Abuja on Tuesday that it was their expectation that the in coming Buhari administration would do all the things that are humanly possible to bring about a bail out.
According to the spokesman of the APC governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, “what we have done so far is to inform him about the state of the economy and make suggestions.  But I know that he will know how to solve this ugly situation.”
Governor Okorocha was emphatic about the need for politicians in the country irrespective of party affiliation to close ranks with the incoming administration to build a nation of our dream.
One cannot but agree with Gov Okorocha on our common national dream and aspiration to evolve a prosperous nation, but one is compelled to state that nothing great can be achieved through mere wishful thinking. It should also be emphasized that no developing country or nation can achieve greatness if it continues to do those things that had not helped it the same way and still expect to succeed.
Although the president elect assured the visiting APC governors of his commitment to his campaign promises which have hyped expectations among Nigerians from the incoming federal government, he however appealed to Nigerians to give the in coming government a chance to reposition the economy and be in a position, to pay salaries.
Not a few Nigerians have expressed disappointment in the open admission by the defaulting state governors of their inability to pay their workers. They are aghast that rather than advantage of the present dwindling oil revenues from the centre and explore other plausible ways of conserving funds to meet their contractual obligations to their workers, they sit by and lament.
What are these governors now telling us? Are they saying that workers in Osun, Benue, Plateau, Oyo, Rivers, Imo, and Kogi will have to wait until the economy ‘improves’ according to their terms before they can receive their salaries which they need to take care of themselves and members of their families?
Even as we are quick to take the affected states governors to task over their failure to be innovative in the management of their respective states’ economies, it must be pointed out that the governors themselves are victims of the feeding bottle economic philosophy which has made the states to perpetually depend on revenue collectable by the federal government which is doled out through a revenue formula to each of the states.
This has been the culture and most of these governors who aspired to the seats principally to preside over the allocation of these revenues cannot now be turned into a revenue creators especially now that the prices of oil in the international oil market have fallen below 50 percent of what they were about 8 months ago.
Rather than lament and wait for a special kind of manna to fall from heaven, the current dwindling oil revenue should be seen as a unique opportunity to develop other revenue sources which have remained un-tapped over the years due to the enormous revenue from oil. Besides, it is expected that the affected state governors should cut down on cost of running government by scaling down on their expenses including the number of vehicles on their convoys, ensure about 80 percent cut on their security votes and the scaling down of their political appointees and their bogus allowances as a short-term solution to the present avoidable financial crisis the affected states have found themselves. Avoidable because, the minister of finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on Wednesday that the Federal Government had advised states governments to prioritise salary payment in the wake of the over 50 percent drop in oil revenue to the centre and that the states currently unable to pay salaries may have ignored the ministry’s counsel.
The coordinating minister for the economy admitted that the Federal Government had even resorted to borrowing the sum of N473bn to keep the country stable following the 50 percent decline in oil revenue.
If they find borrowing as an option, the state governors must prioritize their spending with workers salaries coming tops.
The failure by some states to take workers salaries payment as a priority and chose to budget billions of naira for school feeding programmes are now tinkering with the free school feeding programme to conserve funds to pay workers while others are contemplating some percentage cut in workers salaries across board.
This is where we must commend the few states that have been able to remain afloat despite the dwindling oil prices and it attendant effects of declining revenues from the centre. In doing this, the governors should strive to do more in that direction to stay afloat and avoid slipping off the precipice where they are currently to joining the league of their salaries defaulting colleagues.
Attempts by some governors to cut workers’ salaries as a way out of current financial crisis has not been a popular  option with the organized labour which favours a lean government to conserve funds.
The governors they contend should do more by cutting down also on unnecessary foreign trips by top government officials that do not add value to governance which had over time constituted serious drain on states resources.
Rather than lament, the governors should begin to share in the concept of a lean government as proposed by the president elect General Muhammadu Buhari and begin now to explore means of positively engaging both the human and material resources at their disposal to engender a productive citizenry that would guarantee real economic growth.
When this is achieved and the endemic corruption in the country minimized, more funds would have been freed to develop the nation’s industrial sector as a way of boosting the economy.
Deliberate efforts must be made by the in coming administration to mobilize the enormous human resources to create wealth through massive industrialization of the economy for the purpose of moving the country from being an import dependent and consuming nation to an exporting one and a wealth creator.

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