A former member of the Osun State House of Assembly, Mr Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has challenged governors in the country to come clean on the amount collected and how post-subsidy removal windfall that accrued to their state had been administered.
Oyintiloye, who represented Obokun State Constituency in the Osun State House of Assembly between the years 2015 and 2019, spoke in Osogbo on Sunday 3 March, 2024.
According to him, the high level of economic hardship Nigerians were currently passing through could not be justified with the increase in the amount that the governors have been receiving as monthly allocation from the Federation Account.
The All Progressives Congress chieftain in Osun, who appealed to the state governors and senior civil servants to give President Bola Tinubu maximum support as he made efforts to fix Nigeria’s economy, insisted that earning from the federal allocation after the removal of fuel subsidy was capable of putting smiles on the faces of the people if judiciously utilised.
He said, “This is the time for state governors, irrespective of political affiliations, to join the president in fixing the economy by attending to the welfare of the people. What the president is doing at the centre to fix the economy will only be meaningful to the people, if the state governors can lend a helping hand.
“What the governors are currently collecting as monthly allocation is more than enough to lift the people out of poverty in relation to what the president is doing. While the masses are shouting the name of the president at every slight discomfort, they should also hold their governors accountable, asking them what they are doing with the improved monthly allocation.
“The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio recently gave a figure as the amount that governors have collected since fuel subsidy was removed. The Governors Forum made him to recant that statement.
“But to set the record straight, the governors have to come out and tell people of their states the amount they have collected since June last year and how they have administered the funds. In the reckoning of most Nigerians now, the governors are seen as part of those sabotaging efforts of the president to lessen effects of fuel subsidy on the people.”
Speaking further, Oyintiloye said the senior civil and permanent secretaries must also not allow unnecessary bureaucracy to undermine the efforts of the president.
He said they should heed the directive of the president that bureaucracy that could result in the delay of interventions in the economy and programmes targeting vulnerable citizens, should be avoided.
Bola Bamigbola
