By Eshioromeh Sebastian
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has called on state governors to publicly account for the additional revenue they have received following the removal of fuel subsidy.
Wike made the demand on Wednesday during a media parley in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while responding to comments by former Anambra State governor and presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on how funds generated from subsidy removal are being managed.
The FCT minister argued that rather than questioning the Federal Government, Obi should be directing his concerns to state and local governments that received the increased allocations.
“All he should have asked is, ‘Having removed the subsidy, what do you do with the gains?’ This is what I think a reasonable person should talk about,” Wike said.
Wike maintained that President Bola Tinubu has no constitutional authority to determine how states and local governments spend their share of the subsidy savings.
“Now, the government has said the gains have been shared among sub-nationals. Tinubu has no power to say, ‘State, this is what you should do with the funds that you’ve brought in from the fuel subsidy,'” Wike stated.
“He has no power to tell local governments what to do with their money. All tiers of government are independent,” he added.
The former Rivers State governor noted that increased federal allocations had strengthened the financial position of many states, enabling them to meet obligations such as salaries and pensions while implementing development projects.
“Today states are saying, unlike before, we can’t pay salaries or pensions, and there are strikes all over the place. Now there are no strikes; there are advantages. Now, I have money to carry out projects,” Wike said.
The FCT minister also defended President Tinubu’s decision to remove the petrol subsidy, describing it as a courageous step previous presidents had been unwilling to take.
“Tinubu deserves kudos for taking the bold decision no president took. Now, it’s time for states to account for the funds they have gotten,” Wike said.
He stressed that individual governors, rather than the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, should explain to their constituents how the increased allocations have been spent.
“What you call the Nigerian Governors’ Forum is an association. I’m a governor of State A, I should be able to defend my State A,” Wike said.
He challenged governors to identify projects and programmes funded with the additional revenues received after subsidy removal, insisting that governments at all levels must demonstrate how public resources had been utilised.
The call for accountability comes amid a separate legal action by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), which has filed a lawsuit against governors and the FCT minister over failure to account for N14 trillion in subsidy savings.
SERAP is asking the court to compel governors to disclose details of how the increased FAAC allocations have been spent, including projects funded and their locations.
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