El-Rufai: 'Everyone thinks Governors are thieves'

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, is wondering why most people consider state governors corrupt and largely ineffectual.

During a breakfast programme on ChannelsTV, El-Rufai also said state governors are doing their best with the limited funds at their disposal.

“We came into office at a very bad time in terms of economic viability,” he said. "We came in when oil prices were crashing into the twenties and we had inherited bureaucracies that were designed and structured around $100 per barrel oil.

"We had inherited wages at that level as well. And all of a sudden, there was this collapse and Nigeria went into a recession.”

Despite the recession, he said, people still expect development “overnight”.

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, making a point at a press briefing (Punch) Pulse Nigeria

“Governors are the most suspected elected officials,” El-Rufai continued. “Everyone thinks governors are just thieves and we are wasting state resources, we are not doing anything.

"Governors are assumed to be taking security votes. When people hear security votes, they think it is a slush fund for governors. So we have a very negative image out there.

“Meanwhile, we have one of the most difficult jobs in the world. And we are sub-national; our capacity to borrow is limited. The federal government can print money. We cannot.

“Other than Lagos, very few state governments have room to do what they can do because apart from Lagos, virtually every state in Nigeria relies on federation account transfers. And when they go down, you are in trouble."

El-Rufai also spoke about how he intends to tackle the prolonged crisis in southern Kaduna and why he thought the APC was going to win the governorship election in Edo State.