Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed Thursday confronted the World Bank over the latter’s claims that a reversal of the federal government’s current economic reforms would spell doom for the country, insisting that the reforms are not working.
World Bank Country Director Dr. Ndiame Diop had advised Nigerians not to oppose the current reforms at the launch of the Nigerian Development Update (NDU) in Abuja.
Governor Bala Mohammed while expressed a contrary view of the ongoing reforms, asked the Federal Government to review them since they were not working.
The governor said that the Federal Government should not to be dogmatic about the issue, insisting that people are hungry and that people of his status face the threat of being lynched.
“When the reforms started, the sub-nationals supported the President. The macro-economic policies causing inflation should be looked into. There is hunger. People are suffering. We should not be dogmatic. Nigerians are not enjoying the reforms.
“The Federal Government should come up with economic policies. The money we are receiving is not enough. What are you doing to reduce hunger? We should help the people to cope.
“The purchasing power has dwindled. If these policies are not working, review them. Let us not go into blackmail. What of power? The tariffs are too high. The people are not able to pay. We are on the brink of being lynched. These policies are not working. Let us review them.”
He said the revenues available to state governments are insufficient to address the challenges, adding that Nigerians are far from enjoying the Tinubu-led administration.
“There is a lot of pain and a lot of hardship that is beyond the subnationals. We didn’t bring these policies. The revenues that are coming are not enough to address the cost of infrastructure, to develop or improve livelihoods.
“There is hunger. The policies on agriculture, on manufacturing, and so on, are not yielding the requirements. We should not be dogmatic and hang on the path of policy and academics.
“We should go back to the basics. Nigerians are not enjoying the regime at the time across board, not only the federal government, including the states and local governments.
“Therefore, the onus rests on you, the finance and the managers of the economy. We need to come up with a budget programme, with economic policies that will reduce hardship. The money that we are sharing is not enough.
“The report spoke about employment, wages. How many percent of Nigerians are even employed? Most of our people live in the informal sector, we should look at how we can make them self-employed.
“The purchasing power has dwindled. These policies are not working and you know that. We are at the risk of being lynched. They just stay in Abuja and be talking like the reforms are working. This is part of something else,” Mohammed said.
The governor also said the N70,000 minimum wage will be implemented soon in Bauchi. “I have been paying minimum wage even when it was done before. Now we are looking at our revenue. Everything should be done separately,” he added.
“Yes, we will implement the minimum wage, which you agreed to. But what is the volume of revenue we are getting? Can we do it? And if we do it, do we have anything left for infrastructure? What about power? The tariff is beyond the reach of the common man. We are living with these people.”
