Wike speaks on why South-South Govs visited Buhari

chika ebuzor

October 31, 2018 8:57 PM

The Rivers state Governor said he and his colleagues were there to discuss issues of development in the Nigeri-Delta.

The Governor of Rivers state has shed more light on why the South-South Governors paid a visit to President Buhari.

On Tuesday, October 30, 2018, Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa, Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta and Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom met with the President in Abuja.

In his reaction, Wike said that the visit had nothing to do with politics.

The Rivers state Governor also added that he and his colleagues were there to discuss issues of development in the Nigeri-Delta.

“Our meeting with the President had nothing to do with politics. It was strictly for the benefit of the South-South.

“There is no personal problem between the President and myself. He came to Port Harcourt to commission a project that would add value and I had to be there.

“But when it comes to politics, I say no, the party of the President has performed poorly. It has failed Nigerians. The APC is not doing well. But when it comes to governance, you give the President that respect,” he added.

Speaks on minimum wage

Governor Wike also said that the implementation of any amount agreed as minimum wage will depend on the revenue sharing formular.

Calling for the formular to be reviewed, he said “I will never oppose the upward review of minimum wage for workers. But the revenue sharing formula must be reviewed. Assuming a state like Zamfara gets N3billion monthly and their monthly wage bill is N4billion, then the state will not survive. Labour should understand the situation .

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“You cannot talk of sustainable new minimum wage when you have not reviewed the revenue sharing formula. More of the money should be moved from the Federal Government to the states that bear the burden of governance.

“If there is no review of the revenue sharing formula, then we are not being fair.”

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states had earlier approached the Supreme Court to mandated the Federal Government to adjust the shares of the revenue accruable to the federation whenever the price of crude oil exceeded 20 dollars per barrel.

chika ebuzor