Okonji Is Under Fire

Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonji-Iweala is under fire from APC Governors for shifting blames on state government not being able to pay workers’ salaries.

Mrs Okonjo Iweala

Okonjo-Iweala, in a statement issued by her special adviser on communications, Paul Nwabuikwu, on Wednesday, May 7, said that many state governments could not pay salaries because they did not prioritise the payment of workers’ salaries.

Reacting to Iweala’s claims, the Imo state governor and chairman of the All Progressives Congress Governors’ Forum, Rochas Okorocha, faulted the minister of finance for disseminating misinformation.

According to The Punch, he said that President Goodluck Jonathan and the Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, must take responsibility for unpaid salaries and the poor state of Nigeria’s economy.

The governor, who spoke on Thursday through his chief press secretary, Sam Onwuemedo, argued that Okonjo-Iweala should not have shifted the blame since complaints about the inability to pay salaries was also coming from some of the Peoples Democratic Party-controlled states.

According to the Daily Post, Okorocha said: “God has begun to do something for Nigerians. The man, Buhari, who is coming in now, is a person who does not joke with discipline. When you talk about discipline, it is all-embracing. He will bring financial discipline into the system.

“By the time the man takes off, most of these things would be corrected. When the man at the helm of affairs is disciplined, invariably, other people must follow. Have you asked yourself the issue of the missing $20bn? All of a sudden, it was linked to somewhere. Nigeria is a rich country because God blessed this country. It will only take a strong leadership to get things moving.

“Buhari must set the ball rolling. Nigerians know why they voted for him. Even though he has said he will not probe anybody, but in the current situation we are, when it becomes necessary, with all these monies taken away by individuals, he should recover them for the country. If need be, he (Buhari) should put some of them on trial so that others will be very careful.

“A few Nigerians cannot be holding the entire nation to ransom. Whatever it takes to recover Nigeria’s money, it does not matter whose ox is gored; he should go ahead and do it. He must deviate from the old system for this country to move forward.”

Meanwhile, schools and local government secretariats in Plateau state were sealed up by labour leaders on Tuesday, May 5, following the commencement of a strike by workers over non-payment of salaries by the state government.