ADETOKUNBO PEARSE
The 1st to 10th August 2024 End Bad Governance Nation – wide protest put tremendous pressure on President Tinubu, and exposed the failures of his administration.
The protesters demanded that the President must tell the nation how he intended to improve the deplorable state of the economy, and the ever-growing insecurity to life and property. They insisted that the President must change his extravagant lifestyle, reduce the size of his cabinet, and cut back on the cost of government. Unable to address these concerns, the President became unduly defensive and belligerent. He began to blame others for his own failures. The state governors were his favorite scapegoats.
In order to cement his accusations against the governors, Tinubu posited that they have all the money they need to develop their states if they wanted to.
According to the President, the N2.4 trillion Federal Government allocation which he approved for state governors between January and June 2024 was the largest ever in history. In addition to this allocation which translates to N431 billion monthly per state, the President announced that he gave each state an additional N570 billion.
Unfortunately, both of the generous funds which Tinubu claimed he has made available to the governors are fallacious misrepresentations.
Consider the facts: Given Nigeria’s 35% rate of inflation and the value of the naira which has depreciated by over 300% (450 to 1 dollar in 2022, and 1,500 to 1 dollar in 2024), the N2.4 trillion allocated to states from January to June 2024 is in reality less valuable than the N1.788 trillion six months Federal Government allocation to states by President Buhari in 2022.
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In order for governors as alleged by Tinubu to be able to achieve similar developmental goals they achieved with N1.788 trillion (for six months, and N298 billion per month) in 2022, they would require N8.4 trillion, (six months), not N2.4 trillion. And for their monthly allocation they would require N1.508 trillion monthly, not N431 billion. Clearly the governors have less revenue to work with today, not more as alleged by Tinubu.
Disingenuous as the N2.4 trillion allocation issue is, the President’s other claim of providing an additional N570 billion to each state is even more egregious. Simply put, on the matter of the N570 billion additional funds, the president lied to the nation. As Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde and other governors have explained and as the World Health Organization (WHO) records show, the said N570 billion was a World Bank Intervention Fund for COVID Recovery. The States have already spent their own money for the purpose of fighting the impact of the COVID pandemic on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO), and were merely refunded through their Federal Government. This was how WHO refunded states all over the world.
President Tinubu mustaccept the responsibility for the myriads of problems which his policies and actions have brought upon Nigeria instead of blaming state governors. After all he has said that the buck stops with him as President.
It was his ill-conceived decision to remove fuel subsidies which has virtually brought the economy to its knees. His devaluation of the naira has led to an astronomical increase in the cost of living. Food and every day household items are becoming increasingly unaffordable. His draconian tax policies are creating a crisis of unemployment as companies are going bankrupt and others are relocating out of Nigeria. The instability of the economy is keeping foreign investors away from our shores.
True, about 60% of Nigerian governors are performing very poorly. Unfortunately for the country, these wasteful, greedy and unethical governors’ model themselves after the President; the nation’s leader. But even these unreliable governors cannot be held responsible for the state of the economy and the state of the country’s security as both critical areas of government are controlled from the center.
It is the Federal Government which coordinates the country’s economy by receiving revenue from states and redistributing it to them through the Federal Government’s distribution formula. It is not the Governors who control the Federation Account.
And it is the Federal Government which is responsible for the nation’s security through its control of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force as well as the police, not state Governors. Whether he likes it or not, President Tinubu has to be held responsible for Nigeria’s worsening economy and disastrous security situation.
Also, President Tinubu cannot blame Governors for the aspect of bad governance which is reflected in his obnoxious lifestyle. He has only himself to blame if Nigerians condemn him for prioritizing his 150-billion-naira jet, his N1 billion cardilac, his N5 billion yacht, the N21 billion vote for refurbishing his Vice President’s lodge and several billion Naira approved for the First Lady’s travels over Education, Health, Transportation and agriculture.
Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, PhD. Public Affairs Analyst and Convener Reset Lagos PDP and member PDP National Presidential Campaign Council (2023).
