Fall in oil price: Buhari’s financial discipline will save states – Shettima
Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno on Monday commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s financial discipline, saying it would save many states from collapse in the face of the falling oil price at the international market.
A statement by Malam Isa Gusau, the Special Adviser to the governor on Communication, quoted Shettima as giving the commendation at a wedding reception in the Government House, Kano.
The reception was in honour of Gov. Muhammad Abubakar of Jigawa’s daughter, Amina, who got married to Lawan Dahiru Mangal at the Umar bn Khattab Mosque.
Shettima said: “The fall in price of crude oil to below 40 dollars per barrel has threatened Nigeria’s main source of revenue.
“Government in the 36 states will have been in serious trouble if not for the financial prudence of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“When the price of crude oil was over 100 dollars per barrel, Borno state was receiving around N4.5 billion per month.
“Today, oil price has grossly dropped to less than 40 dollars per barrel which represents about 80 per cent fall in price.
“Crude oil is our main source of revenue as a country; so ordinarily, states like Borno should have received 20 per cent of what we were receiving when oil was over 100 dollars.
“This month, we received N2.6 billion at a time when oil is below 40 dollars; this is more than 50 per cent of what we were receiving.
“Our salary wage is N2.6 billion but we still have to be grateful to Buhari because if not for his financial discipline, all of us here would be in `soup’ now.
“I am not here to play politics; I respect the fact that we are a mixture of people with different political affiliations; our brother, the governor of Gombe state is in PDP; so I am not playing politics.
“But, we have a responsibility to explain situations to the public so that they understand the economic times we are in at the moment and Buhari has made things tolerable in the face of the bad situation.’’
Shettima also commiserated with the government and people of Kano and Kebbi states over the fire outbreak in two major markets in Kano and Birnin Kebbi, respectively.
The wedding reception was attended by the governors of Kano, Kebbi, Niger, Imo, Katsina and Gombe states. (NAN)
ABI/HAS/MST
