Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo has attributed bad economy for his failure to pay primary school teachers for the past 13 months.
Okorocha disclosed while briefing newsmen on the outcome of a meeting of All Progressives Congress (APC) governors and governors-elect on Tuesday in Abuja.
Okorocha however pledged to pay the 13 months salary arrears owed teachers in the state during this year’s Workers Day.
He said, “We must say that the economy is bad, let’s face the fact. Most governors are not able to pay salaries and there is no magic any governor can do to pay salary under the present situation.
“We intend to take that up with the President-elect to inform him of the challenges before him, to prepare his mind to know that there is a lot of challenges that the states are facing in terms of payment of salaries, including Federal Government.
“Here, you have an incoming president coming to meet almost an empty treasury, which tells you the challenges we have ahead of us.”
He noted that the APC governors and governors-elect have decided to meet to also review the just concluded 2015 general elections.
This, he said, would enable the party and its elected officers to strategise on the best possible approach to tackle the country’s challenges.
“Basically, what we did was to review the just concluded election and we have congratulated each other and it’s on record that today, APC has 22 governors-elect, while we are looking forward to getting more by the time we finish with the court processes.
“So this is the first introductory meeting to know one another and to discuss all that took place in the last election, the challenges, the merits and demerits.”
