NewStats: 3,263,867 , 8,181,667 topics. Date: Sunday, 08 June 2025 at 11:59 AM 3g3h4c

President Muhammadu Buhari has slammed state governors over what he described as their unfair treatment of the istration at the local government level across the country.

The President spoke after delivering his speech at an event hosted for of the Senior Executive Course 44 (2022) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.

He said it beats anyone’s imagination how some state governors would collect money on behalf of local government areas in their states, only to remit just half of such allocation to the Council chairmen, who would further deplete the remittance in further pilfering of public resources.

The President, however, related the development to the question of lack of integrity in the character of many of those holding such public offices as those of governorship and local government council chairmanship, adding that such actions are rather despicable and speak of the height of corruption in the country.

LEADERSHIP reports that Buhari’s verdict comes barely 24 hours after the federal government blamed the high poverty rate in the country on the failure of the State governors to contribute their quota of development responsibilities.

Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

LEADERSHIP recalls that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently disclosed that 133 million Nigerians were poor.

Agba was responding to a question demanding to know what he and his colleague, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, were doing to ameliorate the biting hardship being faced by a majority of Nigerians at the moment.

According to him, the federal government, through many of its social security programmes, has been dedicating resources to alleviating hardship on the public, noting that state governments, which have been consistently receiving their shares of national resources, had been misdirecting the resource to project that has almost no direct effect on the needs of the people.

He said that 72% of the poverty in Nigeria is found in the rural areas, which he said had been abandoned by governors.

The minister added that the state executives preferred to function in the state capitals.

He lamented that state governors were concentrating on building flyovers, airports, and other projects that are visible in the state capitals rather than investing in areas that directly uplift the standard of life of the people in the rural areas.

Agba pointed out that while states are in charge of land for agriculture, they do not invest in them for the desired effect on their rural citizens.

He, therefore, advised the state governors that rather than concentrate attention on the building of skyscrappers, flyovers, and bridges, they should focus on initiatives that can pull the majority of the people out of poverty.

He said: “question was, what is the Minister of Finance and I are doing with regards to hardship in Nigeria, right?

“So the suggestion is that both of us are the ones creating the hardship for us to resolve it.

“In the first place, I just returned this morning from Brussels where 106 countries – 27 countries from Europe and 79 countries from the Organization of African Caribbean and Pacific countries. What was the deliberation on? Basically, how should the world over tend to do around food and energy and energy crises?

“I think that it’s always good for us to put things in the right perspective. Like I say to people, when you say government, we should be able to specify which government we are talking about. Is it a federal government? Is it a state government or is it a local government? Because we all have different responsibilities.

“And it is for this reason that last year we started some work on the multidimensional poverty index, for which we recently released the report and it was launched by Mr. President.

“To say in the past, we’ve always looked at monetary poverty. But poverty like we know has different pieces, different intensities, and different causes. And it is for this reason, I went around the 109 senatorial districts in Nigeria, to carry out those surveys and to be able to say specifically, where this hardship is.

“The result clearly shows that 72% of poverty is in rural areas. It also showed clearly, that Sokoto State is leading in poverty with 91%. But the surprising thing is Bayelsa is the second in of poverty rating in the country. So you see the issue is not about the availability of money. But it has to do with the application of money.

“In the course of working on the national development plan, we looked at previous plans and say why they didn’t do as much as was expected. We also looked at the issues of the National Social Investment Programme.

“At the federal level, the government is putting out so much money but not seeing so much reflection in of money that has been put in alleviating poverty, which is one of the reasons the government also put in place the national poverty reduction with growth strategy.

“But if the federal government puts the entire income that it earns into all of these without some form of complementarity from the State governments in playing their part, it will seem as if we are throwing money in the pond.

“Because the governors are only functioning in their state capitals. And a democracy that we preach about is delivering the greatest goods to the greatest number of people. And our demographic shows that the greatest number of our people live in rural areas, but the governors are not working in the rural areas.

“Right now 70% of our people live in rural areas, they produce 90% of what we eat. And unfortunately, 60% of what they produce is lost due to post-harvest loss and it does not get to the market.

“When we’re talking about food prices like I mentioned right now as driving inflation, prices of food at the farm gates are low. But when you now take it to the urban areas, you find out that the prices are high due to supply chain disruptions, and lack of infrastructure to take them there.

“I think from the federal government side we are doing our best. But we need to push that rather than governors continuing to compete to take loans to build airports that are not necessary where they have other airports so close to them.

“Or governors now competing to build flyovers all over the place and we applaud them, instead they should concentrate on building rural roads so that the farmers can at least get their products to the market.

“And you find that if they do that and with the new policy in the national development plan that talks about taking power to the rural areas, especially of off-grid power that can easily be put, you begin to attract industries to those areas for value addition.

“UNIDO report shows us in of employment, the MSMEs employ 70% of our people. So you can imagine how much progress we will make when you find that there are roads, there is power in these rural areas.

“In of agriculture, you find out that the federal government doesn’t have land that they would plant, the government has pushed for the Anchor Borrowers program and that is going on very well but the states control lands. They are the ones to provide land for agriculture.

“They are not investing in that. They would rather build skyscrapers in a city where people will see and clap but the skyscrapers do not put food on the table.

“Like I always say, if you look at Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He says you have to take care of the basic needs of individuals first before you begin to talk about self-actualization. So we need to take care of the issues of food, nutrition, housing, and clothing for our people before we begin to think of how to go to the moon and begin to build flyovers and airports in the state capital, that is the missing link which we need to push so that we’ll be able to catalyze growth.

“But continuing to say federal government or my sister, Zainab, and I what are we doing? We are doing our parts. And I’m sure Wike told you guys about monies that have been released over N500 billion to the oil-producing states and I’ve seen some disclaimers from the states saying, it is small money they are getting every month.

“And some are giving some half-truths about what they have received. We need to hold them able. So that together we all can grow our economy,” the Minister said.

https://leadership.ng/breaking-buhari-blasts-state-govs-over-theft-of-local-govt-allocations/

The normal excuses. After seven years Buhari is still speaking like an opposition candidate. For seven years he didn't call them to order or took actions on his party men.

Truth dey inside Baba talk

LoneWolf212:
Truth dey inside Baba talk

God bless you!

You are one of the few Nigerians who are devoid of hate and will face the truth when required.

The LGA chairmen are just decorations! The only thing they do is loot and womanize!

His Excellence, President Mohammadu Buhari (GCFR) has made sure the allocations are timely disbursed, but the thieves still wont achieve anything with allocation!

Buhari is right here. At least for once he said the right thing. Let's hope he will repeat the right thing again by not interfering with 2023 èlection.

The hardship that those Governors are causing masses is bigger than anyone could imagine, they ran LG aground in other for them to steal from their pots of soup, some states doesn't have any LGs Chairmen in place uptill this moment.

I still don't know the reason why Buhari hasn't veto the bill of LG Autonomy.

The harms Governors are causing to the masses are quantifiable.

---

No lies, why is it that we don't hold our state government able?

Baba go start to dey talk truth now,e no dey find vote 4rm anybody,nice1 sha

Ok

Na today you know, give them total autonomy

Obaseki of Edo state, you know yourself.

Yes true but When the head itself is rotten , the root will never germinate anything .. Mr president what have you done about the petroleum and food issue in this country . It’s time to trade blames because this useless party ruin this country

He is absolutely right, your governors are your problems.

What efforts has Buhari made using his veto power to stop the t by states and local government since over seven years in office? That issue is what national conference aimed to restructure would have solved but he ignores it. He is also part of the cabals that benefits from the bad system that's why he is giving lip service without action to the ugly phenomenon

Truth be told the President is right

He has reiterated this severally on the need for LGA to be completely autonomous but it has fallen on deaf ears.

I can him saying that LGA's has capacity to fight insecurity cause according to him, everyone is known at the local level. Nothing is unknown there. No unknown Gunmen or Boko Harm at that level. Everyone is fully identified...

This needs to be implemented...

However, in the other news, I'm fully Obi_dient And Yusuful

True but bitter

Them no go gree sir

Asiwaju created LCDAs to drive growth from the small communities but people no dey see that one.

What legacy did they leave when they were in government?

If you know you know....

If it is not federal government fault, Nigerians are not ready to listen. We have been programmed to direct all blames to FG. We go teey for inside deception.

You the restructuring of Nigeria but the state has not even given any slight opportunity for restructuring in local level. No governor's can remit all the money allocated for local government in full. They don't want the chairmen to be looking Elon-musky while they starve on the remaining little.

Why not a law that madates funds to go to each local govt acçount straight from FAC instead of inviting the governors..


They complain and complain, shift blame and shift blame instead of ing the right bills..

Why are these ppl trying to deceive us again. We asked the national assembly to restructure and amend the constitution buh they brushed it off. The other day we heard shettima sayin restructuring my foot. I wonder why they are laying blame cos it's expected. Most of all im shocked ppl still want to vote same apc. You guys are really crazy.

Ban on government officials from going abroad for medical treatment: FAILED

Public declaration of assets and liabilities: FAILED

Introduction of National Gender Policy and offer of 35 per cent appointment to women: FAILED

Creation of three million jobs per year: FAILED

The revival of Ajaokuta Steel Company: FAILED

Creation of a Social Welfare Programme where a minimum of N5000 would be paid to 25 million poorest and most vulnerable citizens: FAILED

Building one of the fastest-growing emerging economies in the world with a real GDP growth averaging 10 per cent annually. FAILED

Generation, transmission and distribution of at least 20,000 MW of electricity within four years and increasing to 50,000 MW with a view to achieving 24/7 uninterrupted power supply within 10 years. FAILED

Establishment of a free-tuition and scholarship scheme for pupils who have shown exceptional aptitude in science subjects at O/Levels to study ICT-related courses. FAILED

Creating additional middle-class of at least 2 million new homeowners in our first year in government and 1 million annually thereafter. FAILED

Creating a National Conflict Resolution Commission to prevent, mitigate and resolve civil conflicts within the polity. FAILED

Establishing a national mortgage system to lend funds at single-digit interest rates for prospective homeowners. FAILED

Raising life expectancy level by an additional 10 years on average – FAILED

Making free education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and education – FAILED

Making naira stable at the international market – FAILED

Giving up to 20 per cent of the national budget for the educational sector while also making substantial investments in training quality teachers at all levels – FAILED

Establishing world-class sports academy and training institutes- FAILED

Establishing a strong business relationship with top emerging economies including Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) and other strategic partners around the world – FAILED

slivertongue:
The normal excuses

He isn’t lying either

slivertongue:
The normal excuses

Yeah, this one is very very very TRUE and GENUINE

Q

Decentralize the government... Let every state manage its resources.

Place the state at the actual mercy of its own available and limited resources. Let's see where these fools will hide.

Buhari has failed in leadership, but his failure pales significantly before those of most state governors!

How can states like Rivers, Delta, Cross River, Ogun, Imo, Abia, etc, be talking about bad roads, unemployment, crime, etc, with so much at their disposal?!! It beggars belief!

slivertongue:
The normal excuses

Somebody is saying the truth you are here saying the normal
If person dey talk truth make we try it say na truth e dey talk

T

Noted.

CoronaVirusRelo:



God bless you!

You are one of the few Nigerians who are devoid of hate and will face the truth when required.

The LGA chairmen are just decorations! The only thing they do is loot and womanize!

His Excellence, President Mohammadu Buhari (GCFR) has made sure the allocations are timely disbursed, but the thieves still wont achieve anything with allocation!

Mind you the governors are the principal corrupt officer in this regard, come and see how my governor is handling the LG in one of the SW sates, what a shame.
I said it once here, until Nigerians rise against all these useless governors moving about with Entourage, nothing will work in this country.
I talk my own.

Excuses as usual!

That's his symbol. How much of real growth did Nigeria achieve in his 8 years? Yet, he keeps on bringing excuses.

Goodman247:
Na today you know, give them total autonomy

He doesn't have the power unless the Constitution is amended. To be fair to him he did in 2020, signed an Executive Order granting LG/Judiciary and legislative autonomy but the 36 Governors went to Court and the Supreme Court reversed it.

The State Governors have also told their Speakers toys not to touch the Constitutional Amendment until State Policing is added and the Autonomy removed.

Buhari! Buhari!! Buhari!!!