President Muhammadu Buhari announced that 27 states in Nigeria are having difficulties paying their workers’ salaries due to the country's economic woes.
He made the remark while speaking at the second National Executive Committee meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja on Thursday.
“On the economy, the fall of oil prices after Nigeria made itself a mono economy is a disaster. I wonder why people could not believe that in Nigeria, about 27 out of the 36 states have difficulties in paying basic salaries of their workers,” the president stated.
Mr. Buhari added that Nigeria has failed to protect its economy from the volatility of the oil market.
“If from 1999 to at least 2003, oil was above $100 a barrel and an export of about two million barrels per day, how come Nigeria failed to make some arrangements to cushion the effect of a probably volatile oil market?”
Mr. Buhari cited over dependence on oil, mismanagement of public funds, and corruption as the main sources of Nigeria’s economic troubles.
One of the president's plans to improve the economy is to reform the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in order to keep better track of the country’s oil.
“We have tried to make sure that NNPC is reorganized, so that we know how much of our crude is taken, how much of it is sold, and to which account the money is going,” he said.
The president appealed to members of the APC to bear with the administration, assuring them that it is doing everything in its power to generate economic development.