Don’t cut workers salaries, FRC cautions state governors

Says this will trigger labour unrest
THE Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) has warned state governors of the dangers of cut in workers salaries following the dwindling oil revenues, stressing that such move will be counter productive as it will trigger labour unrest.

Instead, the FRC urged the governors to look inwards for alternative sources of revenue, especially in areas like agriculture and mining to augment their financial base.

The call is coming just after the governors under the umbrella of Governor’s Forum promised to reach out to the President with a view of reconsidering the payment of N18,000 minimum wage, a situation they said is becoming untenable as a result of shortage of funds in meeting their financial commitments.

The Acting Chairman of the FRC, Victor C. Muruako, gave the warning yesterday when he received the Ebonyi State Fiscal Responsibility Commission delegation in Abuja.

The Ebonyi State FRC led by its Chairman, Vincent Mbam, is in Abuja for a two-day working visit to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to understudy the workings of the commission for the benefit of the state.

Muruako said, “For me, I am not in support of the state governor’s position that they would like to cut the minimum wage from the current N18,000. This is because in my own view, this may spark off labour unrest in the land. My appeal to the governors is for them to look inwards for alternative sources of revenue especially by boosting their agricultural outputs, their mining outputs and these will further create employment for the masses.”

“If this dwindling oil revenues persist for the next six months, we may be in crisis. You can see that allocations from the federation account is going down every day, many states will soon crash and it may trigger off labour crisis or protests all over the place.”