Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has commended the All Progressives Congress (APC) for conducting its ward congresses in a peaceful manner, saying “I give the Nationwide Ward Congresses of last Saturday a pass mark”.
He made this commendation at the commissioning of the Re- Construction and Rehabilitation of 4.3 kilometres Bosso Estate Roads Network worth N577,607,101.54 on Tuesday in Minna.
According to him “the congresses by and large have been very good, naturally when you are in competition there may be a few skirmishes this is allowed but when you speak collectively you can give us a pass mark”
Governor Fayemi who is the Governor of Ekiti state and his Niger state counterpart Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello also bemoaned the financial challenges facing state governors in the country occasioned by the drop in income from the federation account.
They both lamented that the poor finances of the states is making it difficult for governor’s to fulfil their election promises to the people of their states.
Fayemi said “these are challenging moments for us in our country, Governors are faced with limited resources”.
“As a first term governor some years back, states were receiving more money from the federation account because crude oil sold for over $100 then, but reverse is the case now.
“Currently, it is becoming more difficult for governors to meet our social responsibilities to the people especially when the fight against banditry and other criminalities have increased across the country with the little funding challenges which the state governments have to face”.
The chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s forum however praised his Niger state counterpart for being “one of the most astute managers of the limited resources at his disposal.”
He emphasized the need for provision of more infrastructure in the state saying: “Niger state is one of the most endowed states in the country, Niger is a land of Gold, infrastructure speaks to the need to have more access to these endowments.”
On his part, Governor Sani Bello asked his colleague as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to take the financial challenges facing state governments to President Muhammadu Buhari.
“You are aware of the challenges we met in 2015, the price of crude oil has dropped, amount received from the federation account has reduced whereas running cost has increased,” Bello said, adding that “development of infrastructure has become more difficult for most state governments”.
Bello however expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari for being “considerate to approve and release infrastructure funds to state governments to utilize” but did not say how much was released to the state.
He declared: “The people want more from the Federal Government”.
Earlier, the State Commissioner of Works, Mamman Musa said that the contracts were 2.7 kilometres and 1.6 kilometres respectively awarded to different companies for a duration of three dry months but were delayed due to the impact of Covid-19.
He applauded Governor Bello for the embarking on over 299 projects which include 235 kilometres of roads.
