Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, stated on Wednesday that governors and other elected officials should earn minimum wage to reflect Nigeria’s current economic reality.
Speaking at The Platform, an event by The Covenant Nation focused on national development, Soludo highlighted the disparity between the extravagant lifestyles of government officials and the dire financial crisis facing the country.
“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,” Soludo remarked.
He agreed with Reverend Father Mbaka’s suggestion that elected governors should earn minimum wage to empathize with the struggles of the poor. “The poor are hungry and impatient; let’s not annoy them more with our insensitivity,” he said. “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 signaling, it is just the symbolism of this.”
Soludo also urged his colleagues to reduce wasteful spending, citing the limited revenue available per citizen. He proposed a new code of conduct for public officers to address the financial constraints.
“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 others, most states have revenues amounting to less than N3,000 per resident, per month. It is from this share 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’ shares we are squandering. Once we lose this consciousness about the public trust we bear, the society dies irredeemably,” he emphasized.
