Amid dwindling revenue to all tiers of government and the need for more funds to develop infrastructure, TUNDE AJAJA examines the sustainability of governors appointing hundreds of aides along with...
Amid dwindling revenue to all tiers of government and the need for more funds to develop infrastructure, TUNDE AJAJA examines the sustainability of governors appointing hundreds of aides along with their struggle to implement the N30,000 minimum wage
From observation, one of the common ways this waste of resources manifest is the number of aides appointed by the governors. And from findings, most of the states have monthly wage bills that are as high as their monthly allocation, and the situation is more precarious in states with low internally generated revenues.
A look at the breakdown shows that he had 15 special advisers, 25 senior special advisers, 274 special assistants and three zonal special advisers. As of that time too, Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State had appointed 210 aides, in addition to his 20 commissioners. The governor was quoted as saying at a news conference that appointing the aides was aimed at empowering the people since there were no industries for them to work.
Also, in Akwa Ibom State, Governor Emmanuel Udom was said to have 20 commissioners and 145 aides, comprising special advisers, special assistants and protocol assistants. In Bayelsa State, as of that time too, the governor had 21 commissioners and 45 political aides, whose salary was around N180,000 monthly, respectively.
Fanwo explained that the appointments were spread across the 21 local governments, and when asked why there were three to four persons advising the governor on the same thing, he said it was for geopolitical balance.About two weeks ago, a report emerged that the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, announced his plan to appoint 800 additional aides, as part of efforts to encourage the people to contribute to the development of the state.
“We would approach the House of Assembly on the issue of liaison officers, to bring their salaries to N60,000 in order to create additional ones, especially for women . In fact, in November 2018, the governors, under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, said they could not afford to pay the N30,000 unless the organised labour wanted them to sack workers or the Federal Government agreed with the review of the revenue formula.
The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, his deputy, Ovie Omo-Agege, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Idris Wase, also have their aides in their numbers. Oshoma, however, cautioned that to sustain the practice would not be beneficial to the system as some might become violent when such handouts stopped coming.
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