Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintri of Adamawa said the state government spends 95 per cent of its monthly Federal allocation on the payment of salaries.
Fintiri described the situation as worrisome on Wednesday while declaring open a three-day capacity building workshop for Youths and Women in Yola.
The training was organised by Kambu International Nigeria Limited in collaboration with the state government and funded by Bank of Industry.
Fintiri said the state’s monthly allocation from the federation account is N4.2 billion, according to a speech delivered by his Chief of staff, Prof. Maxwell Gidado.
”What we receive from the federation account on a monthly basis is N4.2 billion, while our wage bill for payment of salaries is N3.7 billion.
” What we have left in government coffers after payment of salaries is about N500 million. Our Internally Generated Revenue is nothing to write home about.
“We don’t generate up to N1 billion monthly in the state”, Fintri said.
He added that from the breakdown, it was clear that the state government cannot provide employment for all the graduating youths in the state.
Fintri said engaging youths in entrepreneurship training is, therefore, the only way to reduce poverty and create job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths in the state.
The governor reiterated his administration’s readiness to partner any developmental organisations with an entrepreneurial programme to support youths and women out of poverty.
In a remark, Mrs Dabney Shall-Holma, Chief Executive Officer of Kambu international Nigeria Ltd, said the core objective of the training programme was to develop young entrepreneurs, enhance their income and improve their knowledge.
Shall-Holma said the trainees would be exposed to wealth and job creation opportunities for sustainable economic development.
In his keynote address, Mr Olukayode Pitan, Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BOI) said the bank was supporting the capacity building of youths and women for self reliance.
Represented by Salman Ali, project monitoring officer of the bank, Pitan said the bank was also encouraging graduates of tertiary institutions to strive to be employers of labour, rather than looking for juicy government appointments.
No fewer than 210 men and women selected from across the state were trained on different entrepreneurial skills.
(NAN)
