Former governor of Abia state, Orji Uzor Kalu has accused Nigerian governors of squandering their state funds on frivolities and personal luxury. Speaking to the State House Correspondents at the presidential villa in Abuja after a meeting with Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, Orji spoke against the recent demands from state governors to the FG for more funds, adding that the states had enough money to enable them carry out their statutory duties optimally.
Kalu hinted that state governors had a habit of earmarking N35 million for travel allowance and dipping their hands into the state security vote for personal use.
In his words;
“I think most of these governors are doing very well and some of them also are living in the euphoria of the office.You can see most of them who are very active, I don’t need to count them for you. The issue of crying for fund, honestly, in my opinion, these governors have enough fund to work for their people because if you check, the money drawn as security vote is excessive. They should stop that.
Unless they stop drawing on security vote they will not have enough fund to work with and most of them are living in absolute luxury, which is not their money that they worked out for. So it is impossible to continue living in this manner. Most of the governors are even living in Abuja now, they don’t even live in their states, honestly. If you look at the books very well, in each trip they make, they will take travel allowance of N35 million, which is un-heard of.
What are you going to do with that. So, how are we going to progress. Not all the governors. I have gone through Rivers, I see that Rivers is hitting the ground. I have gone through Adamawa and I see Adamawa is hitting the ground. I have gone through few more states, they are hitting the ground, they are working. I don’t speak with sentiments. I don’t speak for anybody. You can see those who are working and those who are not working. Let them sit down and do the job they are elected for.”
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