Everybody Thinks State Governors Are Thieves, Says El-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Monday said most people believe Governors are corrupt and ineffective.

He made the comment on Sunrise Daily while responding to a question about why he believes the worst job in Nigeria is to be a Governor.

El-Rufai said his perspective was shaped by his time in office.

“We came into office at a very bad time in terms of economic viability,” he said. We came in when oil prices were crashing into the twenties and we had inherited bureaucracies that were designed and structured around $100 per barrel oil. We had inherited wages at that level as well. And all of a sudden, there was this collapse and Nigeria went into a recession.”

Despite the recession, he said, people still expected progress to happen “overnight”.

“Governors are the most suspected elected officials,” El-Rufai continued. “Everyone thinks Governors are just thieves and we are wasting state resources, we are not doing anything. Governors are assumed to be taking security votes. When people hear security votes, they think it is a slush fund for Governors. So we have a very negative image out there.

“Meanwhile, we have one of the most difficult jobs in the world. And we are subnational; our capacity to borrow is limited. The Federal Government can print money. We cannot.

“Other than Lagos,  very few state governments have room to do what they can do because apart from Lagos virtually every state in Nigeria relies on Federation Account transfers. And when they go down, you are in trouble.

The Governor was speaking on the heels of the fifth edition of Kadinvest, the state government’s investment forum.