The Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has said that Nigerians have the wrong opinion that state governors are all thieves.
El-Rufai revealed this during a recent interview with Channels TV. The governor feels that the worst job in Nigeria is to be a Governor. He disclosed this while responding to questions on how difficult the job of governors have become, most especially at a time when Nigeria faces economic downtime.
In his response, the governor said: “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.
“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.”
