My Predecessor Spent N137m to Clean Offices Monthly, Now We Spend N11m – Soludo

By Halimah Olamide
Anambra state governor, Prof Charles Soludo, has revealed that he has cut down the N137m his predecessor spent on monthly cleaning of offices to a sum of N11m.
Soludo, while addressing journalists at the end of the National Economic Council Meeting in Abuja on Thursday, said the reality is that states must look at how to cut down on spendings in order to provide basic needs of the people.
He said when he assumed office, it was costing about N137 million every month to clean up public offices, and so on.
“Today, in Anambra, we’re doing N11 million a month from N137 million. This is just an illustration. And it’s a thing that we’re persuading each and every one of us to look into, check into our books and look ourselves in the mirror and move with the times.”
Soludo said the cost of governance was one of the issues examined at the meeting which was held under the headship of Vice President Kashim Shettima.
He said, “Take the cost of running the state, the way we even live, so, some gave an example of a state governor going with about 20 vehicles in a convoy and all these have to be fueled.
“We need to be sensitive and move with the times; we need to live within the average of the people we’re governing and knock off the wastes and irrelevances.”
The governor also said that the council considered the possibility of negotiating a new minimum wage through the appropriate structures.
Soludo explained further that packages to serve as palliatives were suggested out to encourage the tiers of government to implement them in accordance with their respective fiscal space and fiscal capacities.