Niger State governor, Abubakar Sani Bello has reechoed that diversification of the economy of the country remain the only way out from the present challenges facing the country.
He observed that the country is going through her most critical time in the history and evolution.
Commemorating this year’s Labour Day in Minna, Niger State capital, the governor blamed the woes of the country on its age long reliance on a mono-product economy as the major source of revenue to government.
“The imperatives on diversification of government sources of revenue have never been so pronounced in our history of survival as a nation. Diversification is not just an option but is inevitable,” the governor suggested.
Gov. Sani Bello who spoke through the Head of Service of the state, Maude Lapai, regretted the contemporary trend in the economics of the country and the resultant predicament in which the country has found itself with consequent dwindling of her revenue base.
Gov. Sani Bello pointed out that the ripple effect of the development has affected the monthly subvention to federating states.
He said the short fall in monthly subvention to the state necessitated the prudent use of the scarce resources to pay the salaries of civil servants, severance entitlements of retired workers and provision of basic infrastructure.
The governor then appealed for patience on the part of workers for the on-going verification of workers stressing that the exercise was not for witch-hunting but to ascertain the actual number of the civil servants.
He urged the organised labour to allow the exercise be driven to its logical conclusion in order to block leakages in the system and make judicious use of the state’s scarce resources.
Earlier the Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Comrade Idris Ndako commended the government for given priority attention to agriculture and called on government to ensure that only genuine farmers that have access to fertiliser.
The Congress also appealed that leave grant be consolidated and paid to workers as of their right and demanded that payment of primary school teachers’ salary be returned to SUPBEB from Ministry of Local Government.
