I Will No Longer Borrow To Pay Salaries, Says Niger Governor

The Niger State Government has said it will no longer borrow money to pay salaries of its workforce. The government also urged the state civil servants to be prudent in resource management. The State Governor, Mr Abubakar Bello,made the declaration at a stakeholders meeting held at the Government House,Minna.

He further stated that some issues in the state were crucial and needed to betreated and explained that one of the major sources of revenue for the state is the monthly allocation from the Federation Account and the Internally Generated Revenue. Governor Bello noted that the Federal Government has reduced the monthly statutory allocations to the state drastically. The Governor, who told the stakeholders in attendance at the meeting that in the past seven years, the state was receiving between N5 billion to N11 billion allocation, but noted that recently, the state was receiving far below N2 billion monthly due to the reduction of crude oil price at the international market. He also noted that the monthly allocations fell due to the vandalization of crude Oil flow stations in the creeks of the Niger Delta region by militants.