Former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu has exposed the extravagant lifestyle of governors across the country and the reason they find it difficult to fulfill their electoral promises.
Kalu, who was at the helm in Abia between 1999 and 2007 told State House correspondents on Friday that aside security votes which governors could stop squandering and channel into developmental projects, they also get about 35 million naira as allowance each time they travel out of their states.
Kalu who led some investors to the State House to meet with Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo noted that states have no business complaining of cash crunch if their governors stop living exravagant lifestyle.
He also frowned at the fact that most of the state governors spend more time in Abuja than in their states.
He however commended some of the governors who are working and not giving excuses about dwindling resources.
“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,” he said.
He said: “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 traveling allowance of N35 million, which is unheard of.
“What are you going to do with that. So how are we going to progress. Not all the governors are doing these. I have gone through Rivers running, I see that Rivers is hitting the ground running. I have gone through Adamawa and I see Adamawa is hitting the ground running. I have gone through few more states, they are hitting the ground running, 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”.
When asked how the private sector can contribute to restore the economy, Kalu who said that the economy should not rely on crude alone, stressed that steady power supply will revamp the economy, adding that the private sector also need government guarantees to access to credit.
While stressing on the need for the diversification of the economy, the former Abia governor said Nigeria is blessed with a lot of resources that if properly harnessed can earn foreign exchange for the country.
According to Kalu, people who leave the private sector for governance were sacrificing a lot, stressed that as governor it was not about enriching himself but serving the people.
He said, “When people see people like us who have been governors, we made a lot of sacrifices in going to sit down there. Because I can make much more money than sitting down there for eight years.
“So it was a sacrifice that was worth doing for our people”, he said.
