Governors Can't Pay N18,000 Minimum Wage
Nigerian dailies are focused on a number of issues today, November 20. Some of those issues are; governors asking for more bailout funds as they can’t afford to pay N18,000 minimum wage and EFCC inviting Sambo Dasuki for questioning over alleged arms cash theft.
The Nation’s major headline reads: “EFCC to quiz Dasuki for alleged arms cash theft.”
Dasuki, the former National Security Adviser (NSA) has been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for questioning on arms contracts between 2007 and 2015.
The invitation is an indication that the anti-graft agency may have taken over the Dasuki’s probe on arms procurement may likely arraign him and others indicted by a panel, which examined the contracts.
The former NSA has not been able to honour the invitation following the the siege to his residence by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
A Federal High Court is expected to make a pronouncement on the siege on Monday to allow him some freedom to respond to issues from the EFCC and other security agencies.
Vanguard’s major headline reads: “We can’t pay N18,000 minimum wage – Govs.”
Governors from the 36 of Nigeria have said with the poor state of the economy, they can no longer pay the N18,000 minimum wage to workers.
The governors under the umbrella of Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) announced this yesterday after their meeting which held at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
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According to them, the dwindling prices of oil had drastically affected their states’ income, saying it was much easier paying the wages when oil sold at $126 as against the current $41 per barrel.
They therefore sought to have audience with President Muhammadu Buhari on the economy, resolving that the only way out of the quagmire was to diversify the economy to agriculture and mining.
The Guardian’s major headline reads: “States still broke, want more bailout funds.”
The governors are asking federal government for more assistance in the face of continuing economic hardship across the country.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state disclosed that the status of the Excess Crude Account ((ECA), based on the briefing by the Accountant General of the Federation (AGoF) Idris Ahmed, still stood at $2.257 billion, indicating that there was no significant change from the last report.
The governors resolved to meet with Buhari to find a way to solve the economic challenges which has seen them struggling to meet up with expenditure especially payment of salaries.
Daily Sun reports that Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigerian, (CBN) has urged the President Buhari-led administration to dismantle all forms of subsidy in the oil and gas sector to allow for the implementation of free market enterprise.
Soludo described the fuel subsidy as a fraud, calling on the present administration to stop it if it wants to make real progress.
He explained that the fuel subsidy which was being funded by the Nigerian government with tax payers money was benefitting only a neglegible few in the economy.
The Punch reports that a tragedy which struck at some banks in Ogun state yesterday. No fewer than 40 armed robbers stormed four commercial banks in the Agbara area of the state, killing a nursing mother and two policemen including a corporal identified as Kadiri Aliyu.
The robbers who were reportedly dressed in army and police uniforms stormed Bank Road, Agbara Estate, around 8.30am and carted away millions of naira from Zenith Bank.
They, sacked policemen inside an Armoured Personnel Carrier in the area and shot sporadically, killing Aliyu and robbing customers withdrawing money from the ATM.
Confirming the report, the Ogun state police public relations officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said: “We learnt about 40 armed robbers invaded the Agbara area around 8.30am but our men engaged them with the Armoured Personnel Carrier.
“It was painful that one of the policemen at Zenith Bank was killed by the robbers.
“But some of the robbers later escaped through the waterways in one of the villages in the area.”
He said the robbers abandoned two vehicles at the scene of the incident but blew up one of them as they fled hurriedly.
Source: Legit.ng
