Who is in a better position to advise state governors and governors-elect on investment and prudent financial management than the person who has seen it all, a person saddled with the responsibility of supervising and directing the administrations of the world’s largest economic organisation and was incharge of the nation’s finance for many years?. The Nigeria Governors Forum made the right choice by  inviting the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,  at the opening of the 2023 induction for re-elected and elected governors and as usual, she did not fail to deliver. As a matter of fact, she did not say anything new. Rather, it was just a refresher of what has been said over and over again at different fora by different people. She advised the newly elected state governors and returning governors to prioritise investment in infrastructure, education and basic healthcare.
She said, “Excellencies, please watch your debt profiles, and keep careful control of expenditures, even as you invest in infrastructure, education, and basic health systems. Please endeavour to pay teachers, health workers, and others their salaries, and retirees their pensions,” Okonjo-Iweala told the governors. She also urged them to improve the internally generated revenue in their states and ensure transparency in the management of state resources. It is unfortunate that payment of workers salaries continues to be an issue in many states of the federation. Salary payment is the most basic of what a governor should do. Unfortunately, in our clime, they see it as an achievement. A worker labours  for several months without being paid. Some work for many years without  promotion, yet their states chief executives whose duty is to ensure  that workers are paid and promoted as at when due expect them to roll out drums, praising them whenever they do the needful. What a pity!
On the contrary, these same governors spare nothing in maintaining their flamboyant lifestyles.  Last week, news had it that the Taraba State Executive Council (SEC) approved N2 billion for purchase of vehicles for the governor, Darious Ishaku, his deputy and their wives. These include two Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs, two escort Toyota Hilux and a utility vehicle for the governor, a Land Cruiser SUV and an escort vehicle for his wife. On the other hand, the deputy governor, Haruna Manu, will receive two lower versions of Land Cruiser SUV and one escort vehicle while his wife will get one SUV and a utility car. As is typical in most states, the governor presented a memo for the purchase of the vehicles and it was speedily approved without any argument. To justify their action, they posited that since the two men assumed office in 2015, they had been using old vehicles inherited from their predecessors and that they therefore deserve new vehicles as they prepare to step down in a few days.
Meanwhile, Taraba is one of the states reportedly owing workers’ salaries, gratuity for pensioners and heavily indebted. At the last workers day celebration, the workers in the state called on the governor to pay local government workers up to six months salary among other debts. For a governor that has the interest of his people at heart, could not he go for less expensive vehicles if he must, and deploy the huge sum into payment of workers’ salary and the likes? It is painful that public service in Nigeria has become the easiest way of becoming stupendously rich, plunging the people who entrusted them with the management of their resources into deeper poverty. About 18 outgoing state governors will reportedly retire into lives of luxury with generous pension benefits despite mounting debts and unpaid workers’ salaries. These governors, including Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta State), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom State), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano State), Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa State), Bello Matawalle (Zamfara State),  Ben Ayade (Cross River State), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State) and David Umahi (Ebonyi State), Darius Ishaku (Taraba)among others are, according to data from the Debt Management Office, indebted to the tune of N2.27 trillion domestic loans and $1.71 billion foreign borrowing as at last December.
While there are some tangible projects in some states like Rivers to attest for these loans, there is hardly anything to show for it in some other states. They are tied to white elephant projects with a great percentage of the loan used to service the exotic lifestyle of political office holders. Unfortunately, members of the state houses of assembly whose duty is to question any unreasonable loan by the executive are mostly handpicked by the governors and lack the guts to question any action of the governor. Therefore, any memo from the governor sails through. Today, no part of the country is secured, a fallout of decades of bad and uncaring government. Crime rate is constantly on the rise; young ones, families are fleeing the country in droves because of lack of employment and lack of hope of a bright future for Nigerian children. Reacting to a recent newspaper report over the high inflation under President Muhammadu Buhari,  the presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, opined that high inflation is a global problem and no nation is immune to it since the global economic downturn triggered by COVID-19, stressing that the pandemic led to lockdowns which had severe impact on national economies due to the dislocation of manufacturing and supply chains.
While the devastating effect of COVID-19 on the global economy is not in doubt, the difference between Nigeria and most other countries is that deliberate efforts are seen to be made towards the revitalisation of their economies. In Nigeria, we still import virtually everything we use. The local refining of crude oil, the mainstay of our economy, has been made impossible due to some selfish interests and the country continues to depend on fuel importation at the rate in the international market. At state level, many governors seem to be clueless on what they can do to beef up their internally generated revenue. So they solely depend on monthly revenue allocation to run their states. Okonjo-Iweala has done her part. It is now left for the re-elected governors and the governors – elect and by extension all elected and would-be appointed political office holders to make use of her advice. The incoming state governors particularly, should heed her advice and come into power with the mind set of working to better the lives of the people rather than coming to further milk the states dry.
They must think of what they can do to make the states better. A lot of times we focus on the shortcomings of the federal government probably because of the lopsided nature of our federal system of government, forgetting that the federal government cannot do it alone. The governors have a lot to contribute and they must sit up. The incoming governors should prioritise the interest of the workers and the entire people in their states. Development must be evenly distributed. The law makers must be up and doing, carrying out their duties in the interest of the people who they represent, instead of doing the bidding of only one man to the detriment of the people. For the citizens, we will continue to lament until concrete efforts are made on our parts to stop the politicians from riding on us. We cannot relent in holding our leaders accountable. We must continue to get involved in the affairs of our states and the nation, willing to jettison religion, tribalism, gender and other divisive tendencies when election comes, so that the right people that can move the states and the country forward will emerge. The truth is that, if both the leaders and the led do not change the things that need to be changed, the ugly situations in our nation will remain the same or may even get worse.

By:  Calista Ezeaku