By Tony Iredia
At the end of their meeting last Wednesday in Abuja, state governors resolved to hold discussions with President Muhammadu Buhari to seek lasting solutions to the worsening macroeconomic challenges confronting the nation.

The decision was made known to journalists by the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State. In the considered opinion of this columnist, that is not really the solution to Nigeria’s problem; rather the issue appears to be the lack of prudent spending by our governors. Luckily, they were so told at the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday.

The NEC pointedly charged the governors to find ways of cutting cost of governance in their respective states.  Of course, Nigeria cannot get it right if our governors maintain their old habit of irrational spending.

For instance, how can we explain the habit of our governors in recruiting hundreds of fake political appointees into non-existent and unviable positions?  The Bauchi State government for example had at a point 913 appointees supposedly serving as advisers and assistants to the governor. In Kaduna State, there were 525 political aides made up of 30 special advisers, 45 senior special assistants and 450 special assistants.

Painfully, the aides who usually have no schedule of duties earn not less than N200, 000 per month in states that are unable to pay N18,000 minimum wage to civil servants. There was the interesting story of Kogi state where a friend was asked not to reach the governor through any of his numerous special advisers and assistants because none of them has access to the Governor! Again why are our governors always building and or renovating government houses?  For example, Abia State embarked on the construction of “a new and befitting government house” at Ogurube layout in which the cost of fencing the site alone was put at N175million.

At the same time, the state government put aside N500million to build quarters for commissioners. In Imo State, Government demolished and renovated the Government House in Owerri; restructured the cabinet office, the office of the Secretary to the Government and the Governor’s office with no bearing to the development of the permanent site of the Government House Complex at New Owerri begun by the past administration.

In Katsina State, a new government house was constructed at Modoji although a local newspaper –AL MIZAN-had published its survey that the people were against the project. Similarly, Oyo State built an ultra modern liaison office in Lagos with 15 Guest room chalets to serve as the new Governor’s lodge. If those in government are there on behalf of the people, why do they build, renovate, refurbish and rebuild new Government Houses when many of those for whose sake they are in power are homeless? Why do governors engage in extravagant hospitality in which people are frivolously accommodated and lavishly feted daily in several government guest houses?

For the records, a former governor was at a time being tried for spending ¦ 52, 083,333.33 a month just on feeding!! We can indeed have more resources for the public good if governors can also reduce their visits abroad for medical treatment and use our passenger airplanes rather than daily charter flights to Abuja.

As for the dilemma of the moment, of course many people must have despaired listening to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State explaining a few days back that the recent bail-out funds to the sates by the federal government was not meant to pay workers’ salaries.

Instead, the money according to the governor was meant to restructure the debts of the states in various banks and financial institutions. The governor did not however tell us what caused the heavy debts. The nation should no longer be so left in doubt on monies collected by states as well as the purpose for which the grant/allocation was made. If this is done, we shall avoid unnecessary controversies like the on-going one in Ekiti State where the political opponents of Governor Ayo Fayose have put a lie to his denial of collecting N22bn refunds on Federal projects as well as N2b ecological fund. They also alleged that anytime the “governor collects Ekiti money from Abuja: he would travel to Dubai and South Africa’ where he is reportedly building properties and five-star hotels

It is thus time for civil society groups to become more active in ensuring the continued survival of Nigeria. Fortunately, a group, “Policing Nigeria Awareness Initiative”, has sued 19 federal institutions, the two dominant labour unions in the country, and incumbent governors who are in their second term in office as well as their immediate past counterparts, for the release of information on the management of public funds.

Why for instance do some governors with hundreds of state roads leave their own roads unattended to while helping the federal government to build the three or four federal roads in a state?  Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, for example says his government decided to rehabilitate some parts of the federal East-West Road to encourage investors and sustain business activities in the state. If so, when an investor gets into Rivers State through a good federal road, how does the several bad state owned roads sustain the interest of such an investor in the state?

But then those of us who criticize governors should however not forget to applaud those of them who do well. The abolition by Kano State of the fraud called security vote and the weekly publication of contracts which show accountability remain commendable. The same is true of the social security policy for the aged in Ekiti and the unemployed in Jigawa. The posture of Gombe State in cutting its coat according to its size should be emulated by all. It is indeed instructive that the present state government does not engage in bogus loans. From some of the media reports making the rounds now, of course Kaduna State with an astute reformer as governor is obviously one state to watch