Sad some states divert bail-out fund – Ngige

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige has called on state governments to shed off excess weight in their workforce and look inward to raise Internally Generated Fund (IGR).

Ngige, who spoke on Channels Television Sunday night, advised state governments to emulate the Federal Government by cutting their coats according to their clothes.

“I’m advising the state to shed off the excess weight they have and also look inward for Internally Generated Revenue,” he said.

The Minister also advised further that, the states should “go back to agriculture, farm and earn money.”

Taking a swipe at the state governments that employ workers indiscriminately, whereby having an over blotted work force, the former governor of Anambra State said, “The Federal Government is shedding-off weight, cutting its coat according to the cloth they have, the state government should also do the same. You don’t do over blotted workforce. Most of them are political appointees, Special Advisers to this and that.”

The Minister, who said he had only spent four months and 28 days in office stated that there would have been a signed agreement between the Federal Government and the states during the bail-out at the inception of the tenure.

“I am just four months and 28 days on this job. If I were to be the Minister before the bail-out, there would have been agreement on monitoring, the same way the banks are keeping their own monitoring system,” he said.

“The information we get is that some of the funds are being diverted to other uses and it is not something to be happy about, but that does not mean the workers can just go on strike. Before workers can go on strike, there must have been negotiations and reconciliations. The moment these fail, they can,” he explained.

Written by Dayo Emmanuel.