The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has decried the low level of accountability among public office holders at the federal and state levels.
Speaking on Saturday on Channels Television SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said that most citizens see Nigerian governors as wasteful in their use of government resources.
He said, “The reality on the ground today is that most Nigerians perceive the governors as being profligate. It speaks to the level of poverty in Nigeria.
“And the President really doesn’t need the US government to say that before he knows that, and that is why he’s the C-in-C, and that is why he superintends over the governors.
“With the nature of federalism we practise, perhaps we call it the type of democracy we practise, the President has a lot of powers to influence the economy.”
Oluwadare noted that governors had been largely deficient in terms of playing their part in providing leadership in terms of public trust.
“And that is perhaps because the President has not done enough as well. And that speaks to the infrastructure deficit that we have all over the country.
“That’s how you see governors will prioritise building big buildings at the expense of building infrastructure that will benefit the people,” he added.
Speaking further, he stressed that though the job descriptions of governors and other public officers were clearly stated in the Constitution, impunity had eroded government systems.
He, therefore, said that public trust should rest on public office, not the occupier, to make the holder more accountable and promote good governance.
