IT was Abdullahi Sule, Governor of Nasarawa State, that called out his fellow governors few days ago on the need for them to start accounting for the humongous amounts of money they have been receiving from the federation account every month and using the funds to impact positively on the life of their citizens.
Sule, while appearing on a Channels Television programme during the #EndBadGovernance protests that crippled the country for several days earlier this month, noted that Nigerians should start asking hard and critical questions from their governors as regards what they have been doing with the huge sums of money they receive from the federation account instead of putting all the blame at the doorstep of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Let me quote him verbatim: “Most of the time, people are looking at some of the hard economic decisions the President has taken. That is his own style. Two decisions taken are bringing these economic reforms. One is the subsidy removal and the second is the floating of the forex. These are the two major policies people keep on complaining about. And people are asking where the money is. The money is there. It is being given to various people and places and coming to the people in different ways. Yes, there is going to be difficulties; but instead of just looking at the federal government, let the people hold every state governor responsible. What are you doing with the improved revenue you are getting?”
Sule is a prominent member of the Nigerian Governors Forum as he is a second-term Governor. He may have to ask his colleagues at their next meeting for answers for his probing questions. Note that Sule is a member of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).
However, it appears he doesn’t have to wait long, as his colleague in Plateau State, Caleb Muftwang, has immediately responded to Sule. While also making use of the same platform – Channels Television, Muftwang agreed that they may be getting more money now but that the value of what they are getting is quite low compared to what Governors got in 2015.
Again, let me quote him: “It is true that in terms of amount, it has actually increased, but in terms of purchasing power, in terms of real value, it has decreased very significantly. It doesn’t need any rocket science. When the APC administration came in in 2015, the Dollar exchanged to about N180 to the Dollar. Today, you are telling me that money has increased but all of us know the value of the Naira to the Dollar and we are still a consumer nation; many of the things we are using in governance are imported and so they are dollar-denominated”. It should also be noted that Muftwang is a member of the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).
While Sule and Muftwang continue with their banter, Nigerians should actually pay closer attention to the amount of money going to all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and should begin to ask critical questions from their Governors regarding what they are doing with the money or which projects the monies would be used for that would have direct impact on their lives. The twin policy of petrol subsidy removal and the floating of the exchange rate have removed quite a significant amount of money from the pockets of the masses but the money has now ended up in the coffers of the Federal, State and Local Government Councils. It would be sad if such funds are allowed to be frittered away as most Governors are wont to do with public funds.
Since June last year, federal allocation to the 36 states governors and the mayor of the FCT, Nysom Wike, from the federation accounts have tripled. Every month, Governors now get triple of what they used to earn in the past as the removal of petrol subsidy has increased what the three tiers of government now take home.
For example, in February this year, Abia state got N8.3billion, Adamawa- N8.4 billion, Akwa-Ibom- N26.6 billion, Anambra- N10.1 billion, Bauchi- N8.8 billion, Bayelsa- N22.8 billion, Benue- N9.7 billion, Borno- N10.5 billion, Cross River- N6.6 billion Delta- N38.1 billion and Ebonyi- N7.3 billion.
Others are Edo- N10.2 billion, Ekiti- N6.9 billion, Enugu- N8.5 billion, Gombe-N7.1 billion, Imo-N9.5 billion, Jigawa-N9.8 billion, Kaduna-N7.3 billion, Kano-N13.6 billion, Katsina-N9.8 billion, Kebbi- N8.8 billion, Kogi-N7.4 billion, Kwara-N7.3 billion, Lagos- N23.6 billion, Nasarawa- N7.7 billion, Niger- N8.5 billion, Ogun- N7.1 billion, Ondo- N10.3 billion, Osun-N7.8 billion, Oyo- N10.5 billion, Plateau-N7.8 billion, Rivers-N28.4 billion, Sokoto-NN8.4 billion, Taraba-NN8.1 billion, Yobe-N7.9billion, and Zamfara-N7.9 billion.
In the first four months of this year, states have received N379.41 billion, N366.950 billion, N398.689 billion and N403 billion as statutory allocations from FAAC for January, February, March and April respectively, amounting to a total of N1.548 trillion disbursed to state Governors alone in the first four months of the year. Similarly, the local government areas (LGAs), which operate more like states’ appendixes, have received N278.04 billion, N267.153 billion, N288.688 billion and N293 billion, amounting to N1.126 trillion as allocations for the first four months of the year respectively.
With the lack of fiscal federalism, especially at the subnational level, which has seen the state governments assuming near absolute control of local government resources and expenditures in most of the states, it can be assumed that state governors have had access to over N2.6 trillion as statutory allocation alone in the last four months. The recent Supreme Court judgment should, however, put a stop to this.
Between January and May this year, the Federal Government, the 36 states and 774 local governments (LG) shared a total of N10.13 trillion as statutory allocation from the Federation Account. This represents a 179 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase when compared to N3.63 trillion shared in the same period in 2023.
Under the present government, the federal government received N4.75tn a surge of 28.3 per cent from the N3.7tn disbursed in one year under his predecessor. The state government allocation under Tinubu’s first year rose by 53.8 per cent to N4.54tn compared to the N2.95tn disbursed in the preceding period under Buhari.
For the local governments, the revenue disbursed under Tinubu rose by 76 per cent or N1.38tn to N3.84tn from the N2.18tn shared under Buhari. Further checks showed that Abia state got an increase of 50.5 per cent to N95.05bn under Tinubu from N63.15bn; Adamawa revenue recorded a 43.7 per cent surge to N91.89bn from the N63.91bn it got under Buhari; Anambra’s revenue got a 42.13 per cent increase to N114.52bn from N80.57bn in the preceding year. When compared with what was earned during the preceding period of former president Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Benue state allocation got an increase of 53.46 per cent from N69.65bn that it got under Buhari. Further analysis shows that Rivers state, which is the second state with the most allocation under Tinubu, got an increase of 8.86 per cent from N316.51bn which it got under Buhari.
All this is apart from the billions each state received from the federal government to distribute palliatives to the vulnerable segment of society in the wake of the fuel subsidy and the cost-of-living crisis that followed. However, these increased funds available to the Governors has hardly translated into any kind of reprieve for the residents of the states, from the recent hunger protests and raiding of truckloads of foodstuffs recorded in parts of Nigeria.
The Federal Government has signed into law, a new minimum wage Act of N70,000 for the least paid worker in the country. Even before the N70,000 minimum wage was signed, some state Governors have said that they do not have the capacity to pay such an amount. They will have the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to contend with.
Even the old minimum wage of N30,000, how many state governors implemented it for their workers? The last time I checked, 15 states were yet to domesticate the N30,000 minimum wage that was signed in 2019. However, some state Governors, including Edo State, have promised to pay the new minimum wage to cushion the impact of the current hardship.
However, we have not seen any move to cut down the cost of governance in most of the states. Rather, with more cash from FAAC, the cost of governance continues to shoot up, while ordinary citizens are left to fend for themselves. It is no longer news that the prices of basic commodities are beyond the reach of the ordinary people in most states across the country. What are the governors doing to salvage the situation?
With internally generated funds and FAAC allocation, no state in Nigeria should complain of not having enough funds to take care of their citizens. What are they actually doing with the funds? In some states, once salary of civil servants and teachers are paid, there is absolutely nothing on ground to show for the humongous amount of money they get on a monthly basis.
Health care delivery in most states is in shambles. In Lagos State, with over 20 million residents and its huge internally generated revenue, the number of hospitals is quite dismal for its large population. Many of the General Hospitals are always overcrowded, with the Doctors and Nurses complaining of being over worked.
Getting bed space in Ikeja General Hospital and other secondary healthcare institutions in the state is always a problem. It is not surprising that lives are lost unnecessarily due to long delays and overworked and underpaid staff. The education sector is dying with over 12 million out of school children roaming the streets of most state capitals. The last time I checked, Health care, Education and infrastructural development of the country are on the concurrent list, with both the federal and the state governments having the responsibility to the citizenry in that regard.
Roads in most states are in a terrible conditions, yet, billions of Naira are collected every month from FAAC. Governors should sit down and do the job they were elected to do. In delivering democratic dividends to their people, they should cut down on their cost of governance by cutting down on frivolous expenses, reducing the number of aides they have, many of whom contribute little or nothing to the system.
The opaque ‘security votes’, through which state governors swindle their states should be critically looked into. Billions are earmarked as security votes, yet, most farmers can no longer go to farm to plant food for the nation due to insecurity in most parts of the country.
Like they say in street parlance, “the jungle has matured”, and there may be no place for any non-performing leaders, including state governors to hide again. The last #Endbadgovernance protests have shown that Nigerians are angry with their leaders. It would be in their own interest (our leaders) to start doing those things that would dissipate that anger before it can no longer be contained.
See you next week.
- Akintunde is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Glittersonline newspaper. His syndicated column, Monday Discourse, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays.