The Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, has said that revenue accruable to the 36 state governments from the Federation Account has declined by about 40 per cent over the last six months.
Aliyu therefore warned that if the situation is not checked, most of the states in the country will not be able to pay workers’ salaries and allowances in a very short period.
He made the revelation when he received the new Director General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brigadier General Johnson Olawunmi, and the outgoing Secretary General of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Colonel Musa Shehu (rtd), who called on him at the Government House in Minna on Monday.
Aliyu blamed the dwindling income from the Federation Account on low remittance from oil, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of total amount generated for the Federation Account.
He submitted: “Corruption and outright stealing has affected oil revenue” of the country in recent times and therefore asked that something should be done to correct the trend to forestall the impending catastrophe.
The governor said that governors in the 19 northern states are meeting to find a way forward for prospecting for oil and gas in the region as one of the ways to solve the financial problems facing governments in the country.
While conceding to the fact that prospecting for oil and gas is the sole responsibility of the Federal Government as enshrined in the constitution, Aliyu said that there was nothing stopping the states from preparing the ground for the government at the centre to come in and invest.
He also said that like what is obtainable in other countries of the world, international investors could be invited to prospect for oil and gas in the region, maintaining: “It will not be out of place if you see Chinese investors in the oil sector in the region.
“We (Niger State Government) have gone very far in the search for oil and gas in the Bida Basin.
“Officials of the government and those of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC have been meeting over the issue.”
Earlier, Shehu had said that as part of activities for the disengagement of the outgoing executive of the forum, an international seminar will hold in Kaduna with major stakeholders in the management of the economy of states in the North in attendance.
According to him: “The seminar, with the theme: Running the economy of the North with or without oil, the programme will hold in Kaduna next week, with all the governors in the region in attendance.
“We have invited experts and consultants to give advice on how to revive the economy of the region.”
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