President Bola Tinubu on Thursday, said State Governors were not doing enough to strengthen development at the grassroots and urged traditional rulers to hold Governors accountable.
The President who made these remarks, when he met with the leadership of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said state governments must prioritize the needs of local communities by ensuring accountability and effectiveness in the administration of local governments.
President Tinubu who expressed disappointments with the ways states resources are deployed, met with the Arewa Leaders against the backdrop of growing insecurity, high rate of out of school children, as well as economic challenges, especially at the local government levels.
Since the withdrawal of fuel subsidy in May, 2023, allocation through the monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee is said to have increased by as much as 69 percent. In October,2023, states shared over N900b, an increase of over N120b, over the August allocation.
Under the current sharing formula, while the Federal Government gets 52.68 per cent of the revenue, states 26.72 per cent, and local governments 20.60 per cent.
Under the 2024 approved budget, over N5t will go to the states, which is N2.24tn more than the N3.3tn disbursed in 2023.
According to the President, ” We are running a constitutional democracy. I will appeal to you to summon the governors. I am doing my very best to enhance the revenue base of the country. They must equally be sympathetic, and they must urgently consider the needs of the local people.
“People reside in the local communities. That is where they work, farm, and live. If the local governments are not effective in delivering services; as leaders, we must not hang on to the numbers. We have 774 local government areas, but are they truly effective? Do they solve problems for Nigerians? Do they coordinate development programming with the state and federal governments?
“Who is being held accountable for the performance of the 774 local governments? Maybe we should look at recalibrating. What was good four years ago may not be good today. When we want the votes, we go to the locals; when we get the votes, we move to and focus on Abuja,” the President said.
Highlighting the significance of education in nation building, the President described the situation of out-of-school children in parts of Nigeria as unacceptable.
Recall that the United Nation’s International Children’s Emergency Fund had recently put the number of out of school children in Nigeria at about 20 million, more than the population of about 10 African countries
According to the President “The question of out-of-school children is unacceptable. Education is a tool against poverty, and that is what brought many of us here. We must use our education to serve the people and improve their conditions. We must develop the backbone of Nigeria’s economy, which is the education system. We will collaborate with you on this intensively.
“We are still building Nigeria, and I am glad that you have emphasized the need for development. The infrastructure decay is unacceptable, and the level of poverty in the north is unacceptable. We must eliminate the source of these trends,” President Tinubu stated.
