Gov Nasir el-Rufai
By Nwafor Sunday
Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has come out to defend the office of governors, saying that their job is one of the most difficult jobs in the world.
Disclosing this when he appeared on Channels Television programme, Sunrise, the outspoken governor averred that governors are not corrupt as people insinuate.
His words: “We came into office at a very bad time in terms of economic viability. 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.
“Governors are the most suspected elected officials. 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.
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“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.”
