State governors and senior civil servants have been tasked to give maximum support to President Bola Tinubu in his efforts to fix Nigeria’s economy.
The call is contained in a statement issued by Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State on Sunday.
Oyintiloye said it was not possible for the president alone to achieve his ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ for the people without the support of governors and top civil servants.
He insisted that the governors needed to support the various initiatives of the president in fixing the economy by utilising their monthly allocation for poverty alleviation in their various states.
The APC chieftain said the various efforts of the president in fixing the economy may not be immediately visible to many Nigerians if the state governors refused to utilise their monthly allocation for the benefit of the masses in their states.
According to him, “What the state governors are earning from the federal allocation since the removal of the fuel subsidy is capable of putting smiles on the faces of the people if judiciously used.
“This is the time for state governors, irrespective of political affiliation joins the president in fixing the economy by attending to the welfare of the people.
“What the president is doing at the centre to fix the economy will only be meaningful to the people if the state governors can lend a helping hand.
“What the governors are currently collecting as monthly allocation is more than enough to lift the people out of poverty in relation to what the president is doing.
“While the masses are shouting the name of the president at every slight discomfort, they should also hold their governors accountable, asking them what they are doing with the improved monthly allocation.
“To set the record straight, the governors have to come out and tell people of their states the amount they have collected since June last year and how they have administered the funds.
“In the reckoning of most Nigerians now, the governors are seen as part of those sabotaging efforts of the president to lessen effects of the removal of fuel subsidy on the people.”
He also said the senior civil and permanent secretaries must not allow unnecessary bureaucracy to undermine the efforts of the president in fixing the economy.
“They should heed the directive of the president during his meeting with them in which he warned against ineffectiveness and unnecessary bureaucracy that could result in the delay of interventions in the economy and programmes targeting vulnerable citizens.
“This is the time for the senior civil servants and the Permanent Secretaries to be on the same page with the president towards improving the lives of Nigerians by acting with dispatch on matters that border on the welfare of citizens.
“We are in a very critical situation in which unnecessary bureaucracy which can hinder the efforts of the president be suspended.
“Any act of sabotage in whatever form in the civil service should be rooted out for the sake of the benefit of the masses,” he said.
Oyintiloye, however, appealed to the masses to be patient with the president, adding that with all the various interventions the president is putting in place, the country will soon attain the height of desired greatness.