For all its appetite to bicker over wages and welfare of Nigerian workers, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) certainly had a point to make when it highlighted and tackled one issue that has been a source of great embarrassment and consternation to Nigerians.
According to the current NLC chairman, Comrade Joe Ajaero, most governors in Nigeria’s thirty-six states now live permanently in Abuja, which is affecting governance in their states with the people they are supposed to govern plunging into more hardship by the day.
Mr. Ajaero stated this during a town hall meeting in Lokoja, the Kogi State Capital, during a visit to commission ten Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses given to the state chapter of NLC to ease hardship. Accoding to Ajaero, the NLC had visited about five zones, and in all the zones, it was only in one state that they met the governor as the others were always away to Abuja.
Nigeria was always set up to be a federation, or at least a shadow of it. The modern evolution of the Nigerian federation comprises thirty-six states orbiting Abuja, the country’s seat of power. In 1991, the Ibrahim Babangida military regime supervised the relocation of Nigeria’s capital from Lagos to Abuja, where it has been ever since.
Since that momentous decision by the military junta led by Babangida who spent eight searing years in power during which he oversaw the annulment of the 1993 elections, Abuja has moved from a sleepy town of vast, empty land to a glamorous city of high-rise buildings and luxury. The irresistible pull of government business also draws men and matters alike to the country’s capital like a magnet.
Looks can be deceptive though, and the rest of the country largely looks nothing like its glamorous capital. With power largely centralized and concentrated in Abuja, there is added emphasis on the provision of basic amenities and security in the capital. It was always going to be the case with the calibre of individuals that are drawn daily to the country’s capital like moths to light.
As Abuja has grown in leaps and bounds to match its status as the Federal Capital Territory, many states rather than grow have shrunk into themselves. While some states have been luckier to have serious and fair-minded people as governors, many states have simply had a torrid time under governors who were too preoccupied with serving themselves and feathering their nests to deliver good governance.
Over time, this has come to mean that many states have not fulfilled their potentials. While this has happened, the men responsible prefer to live in the glitz and glamour of Abuja, far away from the people who voted them into office.
The question then is: how can any state governor effectively carry on the business of delivering good governance when they cannot even bear to live in their states? How can they appreciate first-hand what their people are going through when they don’t spend enough time in their state?
It is downright disgraceful that any state governor would prefer to live in Abuja rather than the state they govern. It is beyond embarrassing.
*Willie-Nwobu can be reached at ikewilly9@gmail.com.
