…Wants subsidy funds channelled towards genuine developments
…Urges President to enforce the Supreme Court judgement on local government autonomy

A Chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State, Hon. Jonathan Vatsa, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stop pushing excess money to state governors whom he accused of doing little or nothing with the money, saying, “The governors are the biggest problem of your administration and the party”.

Reacting to the statement credited to President Tinubu that state governors should stop building flyovers where there is less vehicular traffic and channel such resources to genuine infrastructural development, Vatsa said the construction of most of these flyovers is a mere conduit pipe for the governors.

The former Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, in a statement in Minna on Saturday, pointed out that Nigerians are going through hard times today not because there is no money in the system but because some of them (governors) have behaved very irresponsibly with a number of misplaced priorities.

It should be noted that Niger State is among the states currently embarking on the construction of flyovers and has not been able to complete one since they were started three years ago. Five flyovers are currently under construction in Minna, the state capital alone.

The former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism said that from the tone of President Tinubu’s statement, it shows that he is aware that the governors are the biggest problem of his administration and the party.

According to him, “while the governors smile home with huge amounts from the federation account every month, five times more than their predecessors, there is nothing to show in most of these states, with poverty ravaging the people.

“These are agents of underdevelopment; the President should stop giving them excess money because the people don’t feel the impact.

“The resistance and backlash this administration is experiencing today from Nigerians due to the hardship in the country is caused by some of these governors who have personalised governance.

“Every economic hardship, every inflationary spike and every governance failure eventually finds its way to the doorstep of the President.

“Meanwhile, many state governments escape rigorous public scrutiny despite controlling increasingly substantial financial resources.

“That is why I want to strongly advise Mr President to stop giving these governors excess money that has not translated to genuine development at the state levels.

“When the President decides to be giving 36 individuals the entire proceeds from the fuel subsidy removal, thinking that it will trickle down, it’s a lie. Mr President, these governors are there to sabotage your genuine intentions, and that is why Nigerians are suffering.

“These Governors are now the agents of underdevelopment in this country, but unfortunately everyone is pointing accusing fingers at President Tinubu for the hardship in the land”.

Vatsa then opined that “henceforth, no state governor should approach any bank or lender for a loan, going by the enormous resources coming from the federation account which many of them have publicly acknowledged, but unfortunately, some of these governors have plunged their states into unpayable loans”.

He maintained that the governors hide under the construction of “unfinished flyovers” even in states where you have less than 200 vehicles on the road just to pile up loans.

Furthermore, the APC Chieftain said, “Now that the President has realised that the governors are not utilising these enormous resources to the betterment of Nigerians, I want him to emulate late Abacha and former President Goodluck Jonathan, who set up the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P), respectively and come up with his own trust fund.

“That is the only way Mr President can improve the lives of Nigerians through quality infrastructural transformation and reduce poverty among Nigerians. Until this is done, Nigerians will continue to swim in poverty in the midst of plenty resources.

“These governors see public funds as their personal resources and see themselves as “the lord of the flies” because they control huge resources that have no place in the development of their various states”.

The outspoken former commissioner also urged President Tinubu to enforce the Supreme Court judgement on local government autonomy, stressing that “the situation at the local government level is better imagined than experienced”.

He claimed that the majority of the governors have continued to hijack local government allocations to the detriment of the people at the third tier of government.

He added that “lack of autonomy for the local governments has crippled their activities and rendered them incapacitated to fight insecurity. Their resources are in the hands of the governors. They (local governments) get less than 10 per cent of their allocation”.

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