Why state govs can’t pay salaries

Ken Agbim is a member of Imo State House of Assembly representing Ahiazu Mbaise constituency. In this interview with select media houses in Lagos, Agbim, who is one of the six lawmakers elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), shed light on why most of the state government are in financial mess.
Akeeb Alarape brings the excerpts:
How do you cope as a PDP member in a House controlled by the APC and how do you think you can successfully and positively impact your constituency?
This question has come up severally and my answer has been that as soon as we were elected and we became members of the House of Assembly, everything about party politics came to an end. All of us in the House are representing various local governments and we are equally elected. We all represent the interest of our people. I am representing my people of Ahiazu Mbaise and was elected on PDP platform; I think I represent the conscience of the government because I have the right to speak my mind whether what I think is right or wrong.
Of course, I know that being in the opposition means that I have to face challenges to be able to get our voice heard; that’s the most interesting part. I want to say that my people will not lack anything that rightfully belongs to them. Whatever that is our entitlements as local government or as constituency, we will get them. Workers will be paid when others are paid; when dividends of democracy are shared – in terms of roads and other infrastructure, I will not allow what should come to my people to be taken to another local government because I am not a member of the ruling government.
We were elected to serve irrespective of party affiliation. I should expect the governor also to accord me that respect and that honour to say whatever I want to say. That way, it becomes a symbiotic relationship. I don’t expect the governor to, in any way; deny my people what is supposed to be given them or whenever a meeting is called for all the honourable members that I will not be invited because I am of a different party. And in such a meeting, I should speak like any other honourable member in the House. I will not be hindered because I am in another party.
The platform on which we were all elected to the House is immaterial now, what matters is service to our people and quality representation. I have heard the governor say on several occasions that now that politics has ended, politicians must face governance. So, now that the governor has spoken, I believe there is no more politics of ‘this is PDP’ or ‘this is APC’, but service to our people. Every local government deserves a right to have good roads, and other amenities. My local government will not lack.
With the way things are now, do you think PDP can still rise again in Imo? 
We are six PDP members in a House of 27 members. I still believe that Imo is a PDP state up till today. You know, there were some issues during the election; after PDP lost the presidency, some members quickly shifted ground probably because they thought they stood a better chance of benefiting from the new government. There were many PDP members who didn’t work as expected to see the victory of their party’s candidates because they did not want to be seen to be opposing the new government at the centre, especially big time contractors and financiers.
I want to put on record that we won three senatorial seats in Imo State. We won eight out of 10 Federal House of Representatives positions. So, that tells you that Imo remains a PDP state. But of course, when President Goodluck Jonathan lost the election on March 28, a lot of people we could call fair-weather politicians, shifted ground. Because they believe if they are openly seen as working for PDP, they could be denied the opportunity to benefit from the Federal Government. Somehow, they did not come out to mobilize people during the House of Assembly election; that way, we lost a lot of seats. As it stands now, people should not be in a haste to say that Imo is no longer a                                  PDP state, even though the governor is of the APC.
Even before the last election, Imo had come under a different party, APGA and later APC. So, it has been long that the PDP lost the state or what do you think?
Of course, you know politics is a dynamic thing. At a point, when it was APGA, we know what happened. The former governor, Ikedi Ohakim, was elected on the platform of Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), when there was struggle in PDP over who should fly the party’s flag. Even when Ohakim was ruling on that platform, there was really no PPA platform in Imo State. When PPA got the power, Ohakim eventually returned to PDP. In 2011, there were lots of issues; there were many people who insisted that Ohakim should not be returned to power.
He had many issues even with Catholic Church; although he denied it, the propaganda against him was so strong that even those who would have naturally supported him felt he overstepped his boundary and decided to support the APGA candidate.
APGA being regarded as an Igbo party, naturally, a candidate presented by the party became the beautiful bride. A lot of PDP voted for APGA. The party always has a good relationship with PDP, especially at the national level. APGA has always adopted PDP presidential candidate as its candidate. At that point, we were not worried. But a point where it moved from APGA to APC was where Imolites became worried, because that was totally different from what they were used to.
But what I can tell you is that whatever is the situation, in 2019, PDP would bounce back in Imo State. I can also tell you that our gubernatorial candidate is still challenging the election at the tribunal; nobody knows what the outcome will be. To that end, I want to say that we must not conclude for now that Imo is no longer PDP.
With the number of roads being constructed under the Okorocha administration and other visible achievements, will you say that APC government has been a blessing to the state?
We cannot really at the moment judge an APC government. APC administration as I told you is just about one month old in Imo State; before now it was APGA. Well, roads have been constructed, but sometimes, when roads are constructed, it depends on the quality and also particularly what people are looking for from a government. Are people looking for road or food to eat, employment, etc? If a government constructed a big market and there is nobody to sell and buy in that market, it does not benefit the people.
I am not saying that construction of roads is not good, but we have to find out what the people really want. What is the pressing need? So, beyond constructions, there must be employment opportunities for people to engage themselves and be able to get something for themselves at the end of every month. It is not just enough to have block work everywhere for people to know that we are working; the question is, how does such block work positively impact on people’s wellbeing.
Most of the state governors had hinged their inability to pay salaries on the shrinking allocation to their states as a result of the fall in revenues accruing from oil. Your state is among those with months of salary arrears. Do you agree with that position? 
I know that fall in oil prices is a key factor in the dwindling revenue to government, but I still want to believe that there are other reasons. We have just come out of elections; I know that most of the governors spent so much money trying to win election or fund election. Those monies that were spent affected states’ purses because election funding is not in the budget. You don’t provide for election in a state budget; if you are running an election, you spend from your pocket, but of course, there’s no state governor that is running for an election that doesn’t spend from the state purse.
I ran an election as an individual and I know how much I spent, how much more a state governor. I think the election affected most of the states, either directly or indirectly. There could also be some other factors, for instance, in my state, there are 27 local government areas and the state government is building general hospitals in all of them- you can imagine how much the government will spend. In some states, there is also the case of misappropriation of funds. Some governors embark on projects that are not needed in the immediate. They did not prioritize the needs to properly allocate available funds. 
The Imo State House of Assembly recently raised a joint committee to look into the need to increase the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR); would such a step not result in multiple taxation? 
As a member of the House, we are all committed to ensuring that government can increase the IGR of the state. We are aware that such a step could bring some burdens on the people. But we are looking at it to ensure that there are palliative measures and that the steps taken to do it are not draconian to avoid the good intention being counter-productive.
What we are trying to do is to ensure that levies, taxes and other payments that should be made to government coffers are done. That is to ensure that all collections on behalf of government are remitted appropriately without allowing touts to have their way. This will check leakages and make more funds available to government to provide needed services to Imolites.