A politician and public affairs commentator, Hon. Bello Muktar, has described the State governors as a result of the failure to implement some of the key initiatives that would bring development to the country in various fields.
Muktar made the remarks during a Liberty TV programme: “Dialogue”, in Kaduna.
According to Muktar, because many Nigerians are unaware of this, they blame the Federal Government on a regular basis. He said the Constitution has vested too much powers on the governors and that it was one of the reasons why the masses of the country still did not benefit from the dividends of democracy.
According to him, “In spite of the fact that the Federal Government has granted autonomy to the local government councils, which are closer to the populace, however, the governors have failed to implement it out of selfishness.
He added that the federal government also launched a nomadic pastoralist strategy in order to end the farmers, herdsmen’s conflict, which has claimed the lives and property of many Nigerians for years but the same governors thwarted the move.
He added that, “The present administration also introduced the almajiri programme to educate our under-privileged children in the country and put them out on the streets of the country, but some governors also abandoned the programme”.
On the issue of the prevailing security crisis, he said, “Every governor will tell you that he does not have the authority to command the security forces in his State despite the governors’ enormous political clout in their various States”, adding that the Constitution has granted separation of powers to each of the three arms of government.
According to him, “There are steps that the Government should take to take advantage of, like science and Information Technology as well as inviting some advanced countries to chart the path for government to own and implement a nuclear programme, which he said should be set up in the country and if possible, even to be managed by them under a specific agreement with the Federal Government.
“If they are given the authority to do this, there is no way they, along with the Government, will allow some terrorists to be operating unhindered in the country’s forests, since it has direct consequences on their activities, as it is where their equipment will be set up”.
“It is only when such is implemented that this government will be able to put an end to this militancy”, he stated.
