Stop giving govs excess funds, they’re agents of underdevelopment – Vatsa tells Tinubu
APC Chieftain Calls for Reevaluation of Federal Funding to States
MINNA, Nigeria — Jonathan Vatsa, a senior official of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism in Niger State, has urged President Bola Tinubu to reconsider the distribution of federal funds to state governors. Vatsa accused the governors of mismanaging resources that are intended for development, exacerbating the economic challenges faced by Nigerians.
In comments made on Saturday, Vatsa asserted that the nation’s economic difficulties stem not from a lack of funding, but from the failure of many governors to utilize the increased federal allocations effectively. He emphasized the need for priorities to shift towards projects that directly benefit citizens rather than initiatives that do not serve the public interest.
Vatsa’s remarks followed President Tinubu’s recent admonitions to governors, cautioning them against investing public funds into flyover projects in low-traffic areas without sufficient justification. He expressed that the President is beginning to acknowledge the detrimental impact of some state governors on both his administration and the APC.
“These are agents of underdevelopment,” Vatsa stated. “The President should stop giving them excess money because the people don’t feel the impact.”
Despite receiving significantly higher monthly allocations since the removal of the fuel subsidy, Vatsa noted that many states have little to show for the additional revenue, with increasing poverty and hardship. He highlighted ongoing flyover projects in Minna, Niger State, which have remained incomplete almost three years after their initiation.
Vatsa contended that such projects contribute to wasteful spending rather than genuine infrastructure development, warning that public dissatisfaction regarding inflation and living costs is disproportionately directed at President Tinubu while state governors remain largely unexamined despite their fiscal authority.
“Every economic hardship, every inflationary spike and every governance failure eventually finds its way to the doorstep of the President,” he remarked, urging Tinubu to establish a national development intervention akin to previous programs like the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P). Vatsa believes that this would allow savings from fuel subsidy removal to be invested in infrastructure and programs that benefit ordinary Nigerians, rather than being controlled solely by state governments.
Additionally, Vatsa called on the President to enforce a Supreme Court ruling granting financial autonomy to local governments, claiming that many governors continue to deny local councils their allocations. He argued that local governments receive less than 10 percent of their entitled funds, hindering grassroots development and efforts to address insecurity across the nation.
