Governors should earn minimum wage just like workers – Soludo

Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State, has suggested that governors and other elected officials earn minimum wage to reflect the current reality of Nigeria.

He said contrary to the flamboyant lifestyles portrayed by governors and elected officials, the country was facing a dire financial crisis.

Soludo stated this on Wednesday, June 12, at a special edition of The Platform, organized by The Covenant Nation.

The governor stressed that extravagant lifestyles of government officials does not give a true reflection of the country’s economic woes. He urged his colleagues and other elected officials to cut wasteful spending.

Soludo said; “Let’s come clean and straight with Nigerians. Nigeria is very poor and broke but the lifestyle of government and government officials does not show it, especially with the obscene flamboyance in public display.

“The p00r are hungry and impatient, let’s not annoy them more with our insensitivity. In this case, I agree with reverend father Mbaka, who said elected governors should also earn minimum wage. I agree that we should be paid that so that we can feel that as well.

“In Anambra, I have not received a kobo as salary since I assumed office. I have donated my salary to the state. It is symbolic. It is not much. I think generally, the system is in denial. There must be some signalling, it is just the symbolism of this.

“That is why I proposed reinventing the new code of conduct for public officers. For the federal government, the actual projected revenue comes to about N6,160 per Nigerian, per month.

“For the states, except Lagos and a few states, most states have revenues amounting to less than N3,000 per resident, per month. It is from this shares per citizen that we are expected to provide all the infrastructure, debt service, pay salaries and pensions, build schools, and provide everything.

“For each of our wasteful spending, let’s be conscious of how many citizens share that we are squandering. Once we lose this consciousness about the public trust we bear, the society dies irredeemably”.