A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State, Hon. Jonathan Vatsa, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to halt what he described as the transfer of “excess funds” to state governors, alleging that many have failed to translate increased federal allocations into meaningful development.
Vatsa, a former Niger State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, said the worsening economic hardship across the country was not due to a lack of resources but what he termed the irresponsible management of public funds and misplaced priorities by many governors.
In a statement issued in Minna on Saturday, he was reacting to President Tinubu’s recent criticism of state governments constructing flyovers in areas with minimal traffic instead of investing in projects with greater public impact.
According to him, many of the flyover projects being executed across states have become conduits for public funds rather than genuine infrastructure aimed at improving the lives of citizens.
He noted that Niger State, where five flyovers are currently under construction in Minna, had yet to complete any of the projects nearly three years after they commenced.
Vatsa said the President’s remarks suggested an awareness that some governors had become a major challenge to both his administration and the ruling APC.
He argued that despite receiving significantly higher monthly allocations from the Federation Account following the removal of fuel subsidy, many states had little to show for the increased revenue as poverty and poor infrastructure persist.
“These governors have become agents of underdevelopment. The President should stop pushing excess money to them because the people are not feeling the impact,” he said.
The APC stalwart contended that much of the public anger directed at the Tinubu administration over economic hardship should instead be attributed to governors whom he accused of personalising governance and failing to deploy public resources for development.
He also questioned why several states continued to accumulate huge debts despite the increase in federal allocations, alleging that some governors use large infrastructure projects, particularly flyovers, to justify fresh borrowing.
Vatsa urged Tinubu to establish a national intervention programme similar to the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under the late Gen. Sani Abacha and the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) introduced by former President Goodluck Jonathan, arguing that such a mechanism would ensure subsidy savings are channelled directly into infrastructure and poverty reduction.
He further called on the President to enforce the Supreme Court judgment granting financial autonomy to local governments, alleging that many governors still withhold council allocations and deprive local authorities of the resources needed to provide basic services and combat insecurity.
According to him, meaningful development at the grassroots will remain elusive until local governments gain full control of their constitutional allocations and are allowed to function independently.