₦airaland Forum

President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday emphasised the critical role of state governors in driving Nigeria’s development and prosperity, saying that this accounts for why 65% of federation accounts go to states.

Speaking during a new year homage by Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) at his Ikoyi residence, the President described thire leadership at the subnational level as “central to achieving food security, economic prosperity and rapid national growth”.

This is just as the President expressed his gratitude to the Governors for their support and collaboration while highlighting key areas requiring joint effort for the nation’s progress.

“You are the most important link to Nigeria’s prosperity and development. The Federal Government accounts for about 30 to 35 per cent of the allocated revenue; the rest comes to you. The agricultural value chain depends on you. You own the land, and the job is in your hands,” he said.

The President also called for a stronger collaboration between the federal and state governments to address pressing challenges, including local government autonomy, agricultural productivity, and currency stability.


Expressing his commitment to local government development and autonomy, the President stressed its importance for grassroots development and dispelled rumours of disagreement with the governors.

“We will not fight within us. I will drive the change. You control your local governments. You can restore hope by effectively fulfilling what the people expect at the grassroots level.


“There were gossips that we had disagreements on local government autonomy. No. Just drive development at the local government. Nobody wants to take them away from you, but we need collaboration. Let’s do it together and ensure Nigeria is better off for it.”

President Tinubu urged governors to prioritise agricultural growth as a pathway to economic stability.

“We have to work harder, grow more, and ensure the situation of our currency improves. Nigeria will see prosperity, but it requires consistent effort from all of us,” he said.

He also urged the governors to take pride in their efforts and acknowledged their progress across the states.


“There is no state we cannot visit and be proud of its development. We have better allocations now. Let me take the abuse; you take the privileges. Together, we will build a nation we are all proud of,” he said.

Reflecting on his leadership journey in the last 19 months, the President expressed confidence in Nigeria’s capacity to thrive given the resilience and leadership demonstrated by the administration.

“I am glad I asked for this job, and Nigerians gave me the mandate. We’ll be on this voyage together. I thank all of you for where we are today and where we are heading,” he said.

The President announced that he will be visiting Enugu State on January 4 as part of his planned visits to some states of the federation.

“The policies are working. In agriculture, I was in Jigawa. The complaint in Jigawa was that there was a bumper harvest, but because of the strength of our currency, traders exported the harvest,” Abdulrahman Abdulrazak, chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and Governor of Kwara State said during the visit.

“So, most of us are encouraging ourselves to buy bumper stocks into our silos, store them for the rainy day. So, in terms of agriculture, the policy is working. We’ll continue to deepen that and ensure we are 100% sustained in food security and feed the whole of West Africa,” he said.

The governor urged the President to visit various states to see the ongoing transformations and progress firsthand.

He assured the President of the steadfast support of the governors, particularly in contributing to local security architecture to further enhance the nation’s security.

“I must confess that I have not done two years in this administration, but I’ve done more projects in two years than in the four years of my first term”, Governor Abdulrazaq said.

“We are getting more funding due to the restructuring of the economy. Yes, there is inflation, but we are overriding it,” the governor said.

PresidObi:
When he's the one wrecking the economy and making the governors to fail?

65% allocation minus 45% inflation minus 25% tax,

MINUS ZERO allocation

SadiqBabaSani:
TINUBU posterity will Judge you for inflicting pains on Nigerians

PresidObi:
When he's the one wrecking the economy and making the governors to fail?

65% allocation minus 45% inflation minus 25% tax,

MINUS ZERO allocation

PresidObi:
When he's the one wrecking the economy and making the governors to fail?

65% allocation minus 45% inflation minus 25% tax,

MINUS ZERO allocation

yemmit90:
Allocation giving to the states are waste, give this directly to the local governments and see tremendous developments within a year.

States are a waste of resources, it should be completely scrapped.

Sirseedorf:
Nigerian are too dumb to always blame the president whereas the governors are closer to us, and their allocation are unaccountable because everybody has turned a blind eye towards their mismanagement and indecisive in office....

nairalee:
I have a solution to Nigerian problem

Federal government send money to local governments directly (LG autonomy)

The exact amount sent to each local government is publicised

Each local government will have a website where they have a list of their most pressing needs with the cost of each project (e.g setting up of hospital along xyz village 35m, constructing abc road 1.5bn etc)


Indigenes visit the site and vote for the projects to be executed for that period.

Highest voted projects get immediate attention. Once completed, it's removed from the list and others added.

That way, the Indigenes are seeing exactly how much is entering and exactly what is spent for what project. This will result in transparency.

Just my idea though

PresidObi:
When he's the one wrecking the economy and making the governors to fail?

65% allocation minus 45% inflation minus 25% tax,

MINUS ZERO allocation

Love800:
You are saying that they should be nothing like governors. Am i correct?

yemmit90:
Absolutely yes, local governments should be directly under regional government or Federal government.

End state now before they before they send the country back to 19th century.

pek:
ThisDay, you can do better. This write up is full of mistakes.

PresidObi:
When he's the one wrecking the economy and making the governors to fail?

65% allocation minus 45% inflation minus 25% tax,

MINUS ZERO allocation