The Tinubu Media Support Group has accused governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of acting in a dishonourable and irresponsible manner by seeking to absolve themselves of responsibility for easing the burden of the hardship faced by Nigerians in the aftermath of the removal of fuel subsidy.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Jesutega Onokpasa, the group said the governors who are benefitting from improved allocations should not be seen to be reluctant to act decisively to ameliorate the hardship of people in their domain.
“We find it insulting that people who are saddled with the constitutional responsibility of taking care of welfare of the citizenry have the effrontery to make it look like it is the sole duty of the federal government to address challenges sparked by fuel subsidy removal.
“These PDP governors, like their counterparts in other parties, have in the last 8 months been receiving far more allocations from federation account for states and council areas, yet they are opting to play the ostrich when it comes to bringing succour to Nigerians feeling the brunt of the action.
“It is preposterous that governors who are members of the National Economic Council are comparing the Nigerian situation to Venezuela with its 190% inflation rate in a country where people use sackloads of cash to buy basic things. Meanwhile Nigeria’s current inflation rate of 28.94% is at same level with the August 2005 inflation number of 28.2%.
“The governors had the temerity to urge the Federal Government to, ‘as a matter of urgency’, introduce initiatives when it is clear that the President Bola Tinubu administration has been active with deploying emergency measures as well introducing long term efforts to tackle food security.
“The President has twice ordered the release of hundreds of thousands metric tonnes of grains. He has initiated efforts to inject Compressed Natural Gas powered vehicles into the transportation sector aside from the temporary measures he introduced during the Christmas holidays but no one really knows what these Governors have been doing with the improved allocations to states and local governments.
“We make bold to say that none of these governors have done anything serious to cushion the effect of rising cost of food items in their states.
” So rather than heap the blame for rising cost of living on the Tinubu administration, governors across party lines should see themselves as change agents and collaborate with the federal government to address the problem,” it said.
The group also urged Nigerians to be alive to their responsibility of holding state governors and local government chairmen accountable.
