The Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency, CESJET, has accused governors of abandoning their mandate for matters that have no bearing on what they were elected to do, stressing that the trend has resulted in the failing of governance, worsened the economy of the country at large and created the risk of a citizens’ uprising if not immediately addressed.
A statement issued by the Executive Director of CESJET, Comrade Joyce Adamu, stated that the 36 state governors, irrespective of party affiliations, are guilty of non-performance in this regard, adding that the governors abandon their duties because they have poor understanding their roles.
The organization harped on the need for the 36 states chief executives to immediately retrace their steps if they want to regain relevance in the country.
The statement reads, “A situation where they persist in this no performance and exploiting the poor understanding of the responsibilities of the three tiers of government on the part of the citizens to cover up for their failings cannot continue indefinitely. The fact that Nigerians blame either the federal or local government is no license to continue fooling the populace.
“The state governors have reduced themselves to fulfilling the roles that would have been expected of local government chairmen while leaving the issue of their people’s economic empowerment to the federal government knowing full well that it is their responsibility.
“Their excuse that states are broke is untenable since they are still able to undertake expensive foreign trips at the expense of their respective states.
“The claim that the states are broke would be acceptable if they can prove that they are no longer able to fuel their convoys from their states’ capitals to Abuja. But to the extent that they can afford expensive flight tickets and extotic hotels abroad they must stop lying that their states are broke.
“We therefore challenge the governors to tell their citizens what cost cutting measures they have implemented since the recession was declared. They must also prove the result that such cost cutting measures have yielded.
“We make these demands because we know that not only have the governors been lazy in coming up with winning economic ideas to turn their states around, they have also been wasteful even in the management of funds designated as bailout intervention by the federal government.
“It is depressing that governors are continue to live lives of opulence while the long suffering people that elected them are wallowing in bitter poverty that they have no hope of exiting if the states continue to operate like casinos and ATMs for the ruling class.
“We advise the governors to take heed and return to fulfilling the mandate for which they were elected as the growing hardship and discontent in the land will consume them first if the people do not immediately begin to see a seriousness to turn the situation around on their part.”
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