Nigerians will shudder if they get to know how much money state Governors in Nigeria earn.
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This was disclosed by former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi who was reacting to reports on the revelation of What Nigerian senators take home as salaries.
The Former Governor who was a panelist at a seminar organized by Ripples Centre for Data and Investigative Journalism in Lagos said Governors salaries in Nigeria is immoderate when compared to earnings of public office holders in the United States of America.
Obi revealed that if he says what Nigerian Governors really take home as salary, the outrage will be hotter than what has trailed the N13.5 million monthly pay of senators.
“None of you knows what a governor earns, quote me anywhere if you know you won’t be here.
“It is something you can’t imagine. You just know the one of senators, and you are shouting, but what if you know that of the governors?
“America’s GDP is way above Nigeria’s but an American senator earns $174,000 (about N50 million) a year and you can imagine what his Nigerian counterpart earns in a month,” he said.
“In America, governors earn according to their state. The governor of California is the highest paid in America, and he earns $192, 000. The smallest state earns $70, 000.
“But in Nigeria, I can tell you because I’ve been there, the cost of just keeping convoys alone is in millions. And when people ask me why am I saying these things, I tell them that even if we made mistakes yesterday, can’t we correct it today?”
“I asked them, why are all these vehicles following me, and nobody was able to explain to me. I didn’t stop it because of them following me, but the cost of maintaining them was high. I asked them why do we need to spend about N30 million fueling these vehicles that 60 percent are empty when following me?” he said.
“What is the essence of a bulletproof car? Anyone who wants to kill you would come when you are out of the car. For eight years I didn’t use, and they didn’t kill me.
“In 2017, Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, made public details of his state’s expenditure, including security vote,” he added.