(What is my opinion about the salary controversy in my state? Read to the end.)
I just read an intervention by a very prolific elder in the state in which it was mentioned that Niger State is a civil servants’ state where those in government make up the bulk of the voters. This is not correct.
I drew the attention of our elder to the mistake and wish to build on what I told him in our private chat knowing that many hold that notion be true – even though it might have been a typo in the case of our uncle. Enjoy.
Civil servants are not up to 80% of the state. They are not even up to 2%.
The state civil service roll is about 26,000 as told to me by a member of the salary verification team. This figure will likely be reduced to 22,000, he said. But let’s use 26,000.
Further, when I was the chief press secretary, I was told that the total of workers in the 25 local governments was 35,000. But let’s say they are 50,000; together with those in the state employment will make 76,000 of all public officials in the state.
That is still less than 2% if you consider that our population is four million people.
So 98% of Niger State is not civil servant. Saying it is, is not fair to the majority. Saying it is, is to project an image of indolent people.
But don’t take my word for it.
How many members of your family work for the state? In my extended family of many uncles and cousins, only four of us work for the government: two for the federal government, one for the state and one for LG. Where do the rest get the money to live their life? Or do you think we in the state take care of all the others? Not even close.
Of course, the injection of about N2 billion monthly salary into the economy is good for the markets. Because civil servants will buy food and go to the tailors, the barbers and pay school fees.
But this is not enough to sustain our markets. We have markets in Niger State that make the equivalent of the entire state’s monthly salary in a day. An example is Mariga cattle market.
If only civil servants buy from our markets, we would all die of quick painful hunger. Luckily, even people from outside Nigeria do business with us and come to our markets.
Of course, it is not salaries that come from the government. Government buys consumables and also gives contract.
But there is a simple way to measure the significance of this contributions: compare the state’s yearly budget with our GDP that is, our economy or our market.
The state’s annual budget, give or take, is N100 billion and the money that is spent in Niger State yearly is $8 billion or N3.2 trillion. Meaning N3.1 trillion doesn’t come from the state government.
If my argument holds, then it follows that no state in Nigeria is a civil servant state. Even the Federal Government’s budget is under $30 billion while Nigeria’s economy is $500 billion.
Postscript:
I support those who say that civil servants’ salaries should be paid in full. Even though I sympathise with the government for the fact that Nigeria is in a recession the like of which we have never had in decades.
But any argument from the government wouldn’t be understood by the people because those who rely on the government are genuinely hungry. And a reading of Maslow tells us that people need to satisfy their physiological needs before the mention of anything else.
