The Afenifere Renewal Group has stated that the current drop in the crude oil prices may lead to 24 states being unable to pay salaries in 2015 if the government's bureaucratic structure remains unchanged.
The group's report reads below:
“Nigeria is over-governed with a bloated Federal Government, 36 state government bureaucracies, one FCT administration, and 774 Local Government Areas. When budgets of all these government tiers are collated, more than 60 per cent of all public expenditure in Nigeria goes to service these bureaucracies that consist of less than three per cent of Nigeria’s population.
“This high cost of governance is the reason we cannot fund the delivery of critical infrastructure and social programmes. High cost of governance contributes to high cost of doing business, which, in turn, reduces Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global market.
“Unfortunately, current economic realities show that Nigeria can no longer fund these bureaucracies as some states now owe workers as much as four months’ wages, with no respite in sight. One would not be a Prophet of Doom to say there is a high probability that two-third of states in Nigeria might not be able to pay salaries in 2015. This is another threat to political stability as social vices and malfeasance would increase.”vices and malfeasance would increase.”
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