MY focus is on Nigerian governors especially as we move towards another election year. I have often wondered what it is about governance in Nigeria that has made it such a difficult task. Why do some people contest for positions such as state governors? Is it all about the ego or self aggrandizement? Were they always prepared for the office? My questions came about after looking around and seeing the state of our states. Except for some few states in the country, most of the states can be categorized as failed states. The governors of some of these states are hardly doing anything. The little they do is blown out of proportion and our people hail them as if they had done the populace a great favor. It is important therefore for us as Nigerians to take stock.
We have always been told that they are our elected representatives, be it the President, the governors, the lawmakers, they are all in their different offices courtesy of our desire to put them there through our votes. Some would argue that the votes hardly count as the elections are always massively rigged. I think that is beside the point. Elections are rigged because we allowed it to be so. We allow such to happen through our complacency. A party must also be popular, to some extent, before it could help itself in an election. As electorates, we hardly realize the power we have. If a rigged election is allowed to stand, it is because we allowed it by not exercising our power as voters. What stops us as electorates from embarking on civil disobedience? Though, things are a bit different today, the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), through it leadership, seems to be getting its acts together. Elections so far held have shown high levels of transparency. Senatorial election was held in Osun state, the people’s will prevailed. The Edo governorship election indicated, to a large extent, a high level of transparency. The recent Anambra governorship election is also a reflection of the level of transparency in the conduct of elections by INEC. But we should not celebrate yet. 2019 would be the ultimate test of INEC’s transparency, its integrity and its independence. Would this INEC allow an election won by the opposition to stand in the possibility of that scenario happening? Time will tell.
Back to our governors, why have they made governance rocket science? In most states, the infrastructures are nothing to write home about. The roads are in terrible state of disrepair. Public institutions are not functioning. When we were growing up, the usual thing was to see water taps running in the community. That is no longer the case. People now provide their water. Electricity was constant in those days, today, lack of maintenance and investment in that sector have made electricity or constant power a mirage. You get to know when electricity are given by the celebratory shout when power is delivered as if the unexpected had happened. Electricity is taken for granted in some countries, not so in Nigeria. Good roads are taken for granted in many countries, even in other African countries, not so in our own country. Why has governance been so difficult that provision of basic amenities is a problem? You ask yourself, do these governors think at all? What informs their desire to contest, rig and ultimately get that power? Is it to amass wealth and influence? Nigerians must start taking their destinies in their hands. We should no longer be complacent and mortgage our future by voting these visionless leaders.
Most galling in the entire situation is the inability to pay workers salary and pension. If there is ever anything ungodly, that takes the cake. Even the holy books frown on owing a worker his dues. There are several portions of the Bible that speak against such injustice. In Luke 10:7, it states, “And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourers is worthy of his hire”. The same thing in 1 Timothy 5:18, “For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treading out the corn. And, the labourer is worthy of his reward”.
Malachi 3:5 is more dire as it states the consequences of owing workers their wages. “And I will come near to you to judgement; and I will be swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers (most of them are), and ‘against those that oppress the hirelings in his wages’, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me”. Even the Holy Quoran spoke against the oppression of the masses. The little of the English version that I read admonished the rulers to always be fair. In Al-Isra 17:7, it states, “If ye did well, ye did well for yourselves; if ye did evil, (ye did it) against yourselves”.
Obviously God’s judgement and punishment await these governors. In the country today, except for a few states, most of the governors are owing their workers. Till date, 20 states are owing from upwards of one to thirty six months, according to BudgIT’s survey. The survey focused on the frequency of salary payment of six categories of workers in the 36 states namely, primary school teachers, secondary school teachers, local government workers, state independent workers, pensioners and state secretariat workers. States like Taraba, Imo and Niger are owing pensioners upwards of two to three years.
As at June when the survey was released, states like Kogi, Abia, Benue, Oyo, Ekiti, and Ondo had not paid their workers’ salaries in 2017. The National Union of Local Government Workers (NULGE) at the same time listed about 23 states still owing salaries and pensions. NULGE president, Ibrahim Khaleel said Bayelsa tops the pack with salary areas of 10 to 16 months followed by Kogi, seven to 15months, Delta,eight to 14 months, Kaduna, 12months, Oyo, three to 11 months, Edo, 10 months, Abia, five to nine months, Kwara, two to nine months, Benue, nine months, Nassarawa, seven months. Ondo, Ekiti, Imo are owing six months while a state like Zamfara has not introduced the minimum wage. States like Adamawa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Plateau are owing four months while Taraba and FCT are owing three months, respectively.
How many of the governors can exist in such penurious circumstance? Have they in any way cut down on their lifestyle? How many government houses would you go today and you would be told they had no food in the pantry or school fees could not be paid due to the fact that salary had not been paid? The governors still live big, they eat sumptuous meals, they ride in exotic cars while those who voted them into power live in abject poverty. One wonders what goes through their mind when they drive by and see people toiling on the streets to eke out a living or when pensioners queue up in the sun, waiting for pittance, with some collapsing and even dying in the process. Should the sins of such governors not be visited on them and their families and as many generations as the bible stated? They deserve all the misfortunes that can befall them.
I want to agree with President Muhammadu Buhari when he lamented, “how can anyone go to bed and sleep soundly when workers have not been paid their salaries for months…I actually wonder how the workers feed their families, pay their rent and even pay school fees for their children”. The answer is simple: they lack conscience. The federal government had done as much as it could to bail out the states. They have collected bail outs and even Paris club refund, but instead of applying the monies to salary, they embark on projects through which they steal money or do they think we are fools? That we do not know how they siphon our money. We all know that the perfect avenue to steal is to embark on monumental, irrelevant projects while the citizens are hungry.
Now that 2019 is close by, they will put on their agbada to campaign for themselves or their stooges. This is the time the electorate should give them their comeuppances. We should vote them out, we should not allow them to instal candidates or stooges because that would be a continuation of the same. They will bring money in order to suppress our conscience,collect their money. It is your money that they stole in the first place, but do not vote them.
For those genuinely interested in executive positions, they should give us a blue print about what they want to do. The blueprint should state the how. Where the money would come from. There should also be timeline which should be strictly monitored by the civil societies and even the citizenry, among others. Enough is enough. We need to start getting it right.