…Says I will not pay salaries in percentages
….We didn’t make appointments based on religious considerations
…Salary increment must reflect income realities
During the recently held two-day workshop for top government functionaries in Nasarawa state,  Governor Abdullahi Sule gave his ‘State Of The Union’ address on the challenges facing the state and how government intends to tackle them. SUNDAY DONATUS brings excepts:
The event which took place at the Kini Country Hotel in Akwanga local government belonging to a leading figure in the opposition party, PDP, and former deputy governor in the state provided and avenue for the governor to make enunciate the agenda of his government.
Sule said premium must be placed on exporting human resources that abound in the state for value addition which also informed the use of indigenes of the state as resource persons.
“One of the recommendations that was made from what has been seen in the past, a situation where the resource persons are brought from outside our location. But this time around, I decided to ensure that all our resource persons or most of our resource persons were brought from within.
“The reason for doing that is, I am trying as much as possible as I project the image of Nasarawa State, I also want to project to the world that we have people who have the capacity to play this kind of role. So other States can come and get them.
No religious considerations in selecting my aides
I met them based on the commitments and recommendations from their records and their performance in what they have done.
So I want to assure you all of stability in this government. And that is  the essence of doing that, of selecting most of you,  because there has been a lot of comments especially in the social media that there has been a lot of positives and negatives about this appointment. So you expect to hear both.
And one of them that came up and I feel it is necessary to speak on is for me to be able to explain to you that when we were making recommendations, believe me, the number one item on the agenda is the competence and the experience of the people to carry out the task.
We did not pay too much attention, I don’t know whether it is an error in the area of whether they are PDP or APC or whether they are people who actually worked for us or didn’t work for us or people who practice Islam, Christianity, Hinduism or whatever. We didn’t look at that until probably very late. Which I think in a society like this, it may be something we have to look into in the future.
So I want you to realise sincerely that we looked clearly at the roles we have for everyone as political appointees and what we believe they can play. But they are not the only people in Nasarawa State that can do that. They are only people we can see that they can do that. But along the line, we will be able to see other people as well.
So the journey so far, as you know, from the campaign period and right up to the time that we were inaugurated, we made several promises. Even though we tried as much as possible to make promises about things that we believe we will be able to achieve and things that we believe we can do. And one of the reasons for this particular event is for us to all be on the same page.
On restructuring of MDAs and posting of Permanent Secretaries
As we go on in the course of making these promises, we came up with the restructuring of the ministries and departments which is exactly what we have done so far.
And that is why I heard some of the Permanent Secretaries introducing themselves as just permanent secretaries. So I understand your language and I say there is no problem about that. But I want to assure you that the restructuring is not that just because your ministry is not in need, it does not mean you will not be permanent secretary in a particular ministry. We are looking currently at the competencies of the permanent secretary to ensure that we have the square pegs in the square holes. So if one permanent secretary’s ministry is no longer on the list, but we observe that the person is so committed to fit so and so position, so shall it be by the grace of God.
On Economic Advisory Council
We also set up the Economic Advisory Council and the essence of that is because of what we are lacking in Nasarawa State. In Nasarawa State we are lacking in employment, we are battling with economic advancement, economic activities. Throughout the State we are battling with our revenue. And all these things will not come if we don’t have this kind of council to guide, promote and counsel us. So that is why we selected people that we strongly believe they can help us.
And of course during the process, we realized that we had challenges within the ministries. We had challenges with the presentations and not necessarily the permanent secretaries but sometimes with those who are working under the permanent secretaries, sometimes with the agencies or the departments that we have. We clearly identified them and we will work on them. And I think that is why the SSG clearly stated that we will start and be able to build what we have in mind. It is going to take time. It is not going to happen overnight. We will have to build gradually and I believe with my deputy and with the team we are putting together, we will be able at the end of the day, when we are leaving office, we will leave the civil service better than we met it.
Dwindling Revenue, debt servicing and challenges ahead
So we have some realities on ground and we need to work on those realities. Number one is the issue of revenue. Even from the national budget you can see that our revenues are going down.  I was at the National Economic Council meeting and one of the issues that came up is that the Federal Government today cannot pay salaries. Every month to compliments to be able to pay salaries. The Federal Government today doesn’t have the capacity to continue to pay salaries. When somebody borrows, the people who are giving you that facility are giving you because they know you have the capacity to pay, you have the potentials to pay. But it will reach a point in every State or even the Federal Government where you will want to borrow and they will say no, you don’t have the credit worthiness to take this facility.
So what we are trying to do is to understand that one, the resources Nasarawa State received last year will be higher than the resources we will receive this year. And based on the budget, the way things are looking, the revenue Nasarawa State will get next year, will be worse than what we will get from the Federation Account this year. And these are the reasons. The previous administration, and when I say that, I don’t mean of Tanko Al-Makura alone but throughout the country. When crude oil prices came below $30 per barrel from 2015, the Federal Government decided to now give what they call budget support. So every month the price was lower $30 per barrel, N800 million was given to the State to be able to pay salaries alone. The whole idea was for the States to be able to pay salaries. And then when the government came in the same 2015 they realized a lot of backlogs with salary arrears, pension and the rest of them. And every State was asked to submit how much they needed. So the States submitted and that was the one they called bailout. So we took budget support, we took bailout.
In addition, the Federal Government in its own wisdom and with the recommendations of the States, said it looked like the government of the States were only working to pay salaries with no capital projects. We can’t operate like that so let us go to our excess crude account and borrow a certain amount of money for them to be able to carry out projects. And again every State – that is why I said it is not just Nasarawa State – took 10 billion naira in that regards.
So at the end of the day we have three facilities that were taken. We are to pay them back starting from last month. All these three facilities are being deducted from our allocation. And we just started last month and it will continue.
That is why I have said let us face realities. The revenue coming in will be lower and secondly, there will be deductions from those revenues. So if you look at it, coming at a time when we have also made commitments that we will be consistent on paying hundred percent of salaries because that is one of the promises we made. We are doing everything we can to sustain it.
And it is also a situation where the Federal Government that is taking a facility to pay salaries as at now, is also agreeing to thirty thousand naira minimum wage from eighteen thousand.
On N30,000 minimum wage: We’ll be open to Labour to decide
So if we are paying hundred percent and not in percentage, if we are going to pay thirty thousand which by law we are obliged and we must pay. And I am sure everybody will like that. At our meeting when the governors met before the last Economic Council meeting  we took a decision that it is a law to pay thirty thousand minimum wage. But it is not to say that because there is a percentage of sixty percent or so between eighteen thousand and thirty thousand, therefore everybody gets sixty percent. That is not the law. The law says that people who are earning below thirty thousand should get thirty thousand at least. But thereafter we will sit down with labour, we will show this is the amount being deducted and this is what we have. We will not hide anything. We will tell them in fact, you tell us how to share the money. These are the realities. We have to display this and the people should know that I am not interested in paying percentage salaries but hundred percent. So if we are going to do that, how do we go about it? We will do that but I want you to discuss it today and tomorrow. By the time I come back, if you tell me where I can get the remaining money I will be the happiest Governor.
These are the realities, these are the deductions we are facing. So what we want to do as a government is ‘to do’ not as if because small money is coming from the Federation Account we will now behave as crybabies. Of course not. That is why we are managers and that is why we are having this retreat to say these are the challenges, how do we surmount those challenges. That is why I want us to look at the possibilities, things that will assist with the capacity of the State.
Now is not time for talk. It is time to work. And since it is time to work, we want to get people that are willing to work. You are not working for Engineer A. A. Sule. You are actually working for Nasarawa State because even Engineer A. A. Sule is working for Nasarawa State.
If you are not doing the right thing, even you between you and God you know you are not doing the right thing. Nobody needs to convince you. But if you are doing the right thing and you are not getting the result, the world will see that you are doing your best it’s just that you are not getting the result. And that is the essence of having people to help you achieve.
So luckily for us in Nasarawa State we are now getting the visibility, we are now getting recognition nationally. We are now getting into the news and people are getting to know that we exist. And since this is now happening, we want to do the right thing to attract what is coming to us. You can see that we don’t rest. We are constantly in one area or the other. Today I’m in this place, that place or the other. Tomorrow it is my Deputy jumping from one place to the other including one place that I have never been to in my life in Russia.
On commitment by office holders
We don’t want anyone to interfere with another person’s area. We want to ensure that each commissioner concentrates on these areas of revenue generation and we will know the commissioner responsible for what because we believe such a commissioner should be able to do that.
It is the same way we set up persons we call Special Advisers on investment and economic development because we believe that such persons should be able to promote that. I plead with you and I beg you that we have to go beyond ministries. If we say that we are not interested in the way things are happening and we sit down to get our salaries at the end of the month, don’t you think that will be easier for me? It is the easiest thing for me to do. I can just sit down and wait for whatever comes from the Federation Account and share to everybody and also take my own. I will take my own and you will take your own; that is a lazy man’s way. But is that why we were elected? But I will be resting like no-man business. I don’t even have to go anywhere. From the Government House I can walk into my office and from my office back to Government House. In a very short time my stomach will be bigger than somebody’s own. I didn’t mention your name. (Laughter).
That is the issue. These are the realities and that is why we are here. We are here to contribute our best. And I think that is what I am pleading with you to do, to join hands with us for us to be able to do that.
To do that we also have to block leakages. I am pleading with you that this is not about us making personal money. I am pleading with you that this government is all about. I have worked enough in the public service to know how people get money. You may think I don’t know but the moment I attend to you and I know you are going to pay this contractor or this consultant for this or for that. So it is very important that you understand that our efficiency is what will give us credibility. And it is our credibility that will earn us better revenue and more recognition.
The reason is because I am worried about our State. I am worried about how things are going in our State. I want to share with you so that you can help me take that worry so that we will be able to take this State – I know there may be PDP here so I will not say to the Next Level. So we will take this State to another area. For that to happen we must change our attitude.
Strict adherence to hierarchy and job description,  no ‘man-know-man’
And the thing that we will do is to forget about the fact that, yes we are familiar with seniority and we will follow seniority and we will abide by seniority. So yes, you will see a Commissioner, you will see a Special Adviser, you will see an assistant. Forget about the fact that somebody knows somebody. Everywhere I have run, I have run with proper structures. If Aliyu Bello is closest to me and he is a special assistant and there is a commissioner there, I won’t be taking note from Aliyu Bello. I will be taking from the commissioner even if I don’t know him because that is the proper way of doing it. I will follow the seniority.
And what I want the commissioner to do is to carry along those people. Because when we assembled them, we assembled them because we believe they have the capacity to assist you. So don’t think because you are the senior you will just abandon them and carry on with your job. When you do that, you will be making mistake. You will bring something, they will also bring something to add to your own. But when that happens once, twice, three times, I lose confidence in you. That is the reason why we carry people along and we will respect seniority and we will respect individual responsibilities. Because everyone of you will have clearly defined responsibility.
And please, I want you to envision the spirit of team work. So I expect team work from everybody. Definitely somebody will step on somebody’s toes in the process. For me I am used to that. I know there will be misunderstanding between this ministry and that ministry or between a commissioner and his colleague. It is expected. But there is no problem as long as it is genuine misunderstanding. When the misunderstanding is because this is the way you see things and it is different from the way your colleague sees it. Then we can sit down and settle the differences and see the way forward and we move on. That is how multinationals, that is how IOCs, that’s how they survive. They don’t survive because one person says this is how things should be and everybody follows that line. Nobody does that. I will be calling on those who have access to me and will be coming to me, to be free to disagree with me. The SSG and the Deputy Governor quite often disagree with my position. But they have a polite way and respectful way of telling me. And when I sit down and look at it I could say they are right and then we follow that direction. I do not know everything and nobody knows everything. That is the way I want you to approach it. So my expectation from the commissioners and advisers I have already met with them and they understand my vision. There are going to be key performance indicators. In that paper if you can, you tell me that in this position, between now and this period, I know I will be able to do XYZ. And so we take it from there. And if we are putting too much on you, we will tell you we don’t think you will be able to achieve that and set more realistic targets. And if you are putting something too small, we will say ‘Oga Dr. Alizaga, I think you are underrating yourself. Please add more and more issues to tackle.’
So we will focus on improved education, improved healthcare. We will focus on employment. And I believe those are the issues to be discussed. And definitely we will focus on empowerment; empowerment of youths, women and everybody that needs it. We will do it because we are disadvantaged in Nasarawa and we should be able to take it from there and help ourselves.