Imo Gov laments on paying civil servant salaries

The Governor of Imo State,

Okorocha reportedly said this in his recent interview with Daily Independent Newspaper in Owerri, Imo State.

The governor reportedly said that the humongous wage bill of the state amounts is concerning that he prefers employing people in the productive sectors of the economy like agriculture rather than maintain a bloated civil service.

ALSO READ: Gov. inaugurates Elders Advisory Council

In his words, “I don’t need more than 200 workers at the civil service of Imo State but I need more than 100,000 in the agricultural sector of the state. It’s like if this nation makes $1 trillion every day and ends up paying salaries with it, there still will be no progress,” he said, adding that “unless we address those basic issues and get people to work in the productive sector of the economy, we cannot make any headway.”

Continuing, he said, “If I have 70 percent of money that comes to the state for capital expenditure, Imo State would look like London in the next five years. Public service is not welfarism, unless we are having a welfare state, where people can sit down and expect money. We have what is called governance by investment and not people sitting down and collecting money because that money they collect does not aid production."

Okorocha further explained that no civil service workforce requires more persons to run its affairs with the recent technology advancement.