The Central Bank Governor, Malla Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan have disagreed sharply over how to handle the issue of increasing recurrent expenditure at all levels of government in Nigeria.

Both men who spoke in Warri Wednesday at the Second Annual Capital Market Committee Retreat particularly disagreed over whether workers should be retrenched in the public sector because of the increasing recurrent expenditure.

Lamido had called on government at all levels to sack workers if they are no longer able to carry the weight of paying workers’ salaries based on complains that the money available for capital projects were getting smaller.

But Uduaghan countered quickly stating that sacking of civil servants was a bitter pill that would worsen the socio-economic problems in the country.

Preparing the grounds for his position the Central Bank Governor said, “seventy percent of our revenue is used to pay salaries of civil servants at the Federal, State and Local Governments”.

He said this was unsustainable because funds must be set aside to develop infrastructure and called for the scrapping of the Local Government system in Nigeria.

Hear him: “Why should a State Government say he is unable to embark on projects because the bulk of the money available to him is used for workers salaries?” Continuing he declared,
“My answer to the Governor’s problem is simple, sack workers. Why employ people you
cannot pay their salaries”.

But to Governor Uduaghan the solution canvassed by the CBN helmsman was a potential mine field and “a recipe for more trouble”.

Rising quickly to the occasion, Dr. Uduaghan asked participants at the retreat to look beyond present problems by properly situating the present position of things.

In his view, the problem of recurrent expenditure started when companies in Nigeria started closing shops thus increasing the problem of the unemployment market.

Uduaghan queried: “where would the graduates of the schools be absorbed?” Continuing he said: “the scenario left government with the only viable option, absorb job seekers”.

Explaining further, Delta State Governor cited the example in Delta state where tri-cycles were recently introduced before the enforcement of the ban on commercial motorcycles as a means of transportation from some major cities of the State.

He told participants at the forum that government took a step to provide the tricycles at subsidized rate to erstwhile commercial motorcycle operators to achieve a seamless change and at the same time ensure that the commercial motorcycle operators maintained their jobs.

According to Dr. Uduaghan, “before any rational government can embark on retrenchment of workers it must plan for them by developing infrastructure that will attract investors.”

Adding a political twist to the discourse, Governor Uduaghan said, “sacking of workers would be an unpopular decision … If you advise us to drop workers many governments will lose the next elections”.

Dr. Uduaghan who reeled out the effort of Government in strengthening infrastructure asked investors to tap into the various opportunities that abound in Delta State and help to create jobs.
Culled from THE WILL