Former Nigerian lawmaker Sen. Shehu Sani has called on Nigerian governors to judiciously utilise the federal allocation to mitigate hunger and poverty.
Sani, in a statement on his verified X page on Thursday, noted that the increase in federal allocations to states as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy is yet to be felt at the state or local government levels.
The lawmaker who represented Kaduna Central at the Senate wrote, “The PDP governors called out the FG on the hardship in the country; that is good and also true.
“But we all know that there is a huge increase in federal allocation to the states as a result of the subsidy removal; that increase is yet to be felt by the poor in the states.”
The statement, which has generated mixed reactions on X, has Nigerians arguing about the impact of state governors in curbing and reducing the hardship and inconvenience caused by the removal of fuel subsidy.
According to Anekezie Emmanuel, he noted that “individuals and the state government are the ones causing this hunger in town. What are state governments doing with all the allocations that’s being pushed to each state?”
In Emeka Opara’s reaction to Sani’s statement, he opined that “our governors are contributing to the hardship we are facing today.
“Sometimes I don’t know what they do in those offices they occupy; they owe workers salaries.
“They don’t do anything tangible aside from looting and borrowing.”
While Sariki on X attributed most of Nigeria’s problems to state governors, he urged the federal government to come up with modalities to prosecute governors guilty of misappropriating public funds.
“Most of the problems in Nigeria start with the state governors.
“They are a set of people who show little or no empathy to the masses.
“In my opinion, the FG should come up with a legal framework to measure and prosecute any governor who misappropriates public funds,” Sariki noted.
While Otunba Tunde Faleye stated in his reaction, “Governors have the most percentage of blame for the present hardship. For many months now, federal allocations have increased but had no impact on citizens. Governors and local government chairmen have to account for the allocations”, Kanyima Samantha argued, “So long as people in authority are not held accountable for their actions, this nation will remain stagnant.”
In the same vein, Kay on X argued that “governors are the major problem we have in this country, but we all know that there is a huge increase in federal allocation to the states as a result of the subsidy removal. That increase is yet to be felt by the poor in the states.”
For Martins Chinonso Nwede, he stated that governors “are yet to give an account of how they spent the palliative and $5 billion given to them to cushion the effect of fuel subsidies.
“Governors are part of our problem. Despite the huge amount paid to them as security votes, insecurity is ravaging many states, and Tinubu is being blamed.”
For Korlipa, he noted, “Personally, the state governments are our major problem in this country. They just sit back and allow their citizens to criticise the federal government, eating fat what is meant for their state. How many states are paying the 30k minimum wage, talk more of a proposed increment.”
Lending his voice to the discussion, Owoicho Emmanuel called for the review of the minimum wage.
He noted that despite the “huge allocations” from the federal government, “it feels like no allocation is allotted to a state. Salaries come in late, and we could barely sustain families for a month. Many breadwinners are drowning in huge depth. T
”The minimum wage should be quickly reviewed. The pittance the government doles out to their workers is devilry!.”
