It’s Insanity To Create More States, Col. Umar Warns

Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, rtd (Images source: unstated)

Former Military Governor of Kaduna State, Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, rtd has tongue-lashed State governors who could not pay salaries of workers in their respective states, accusing them of living a lavish lifestyle that contributed to the economic crunch.

In a statement titled, “Insolvent State” and made available to journalists yesterday, Umar also blamed his immediate constituency , the Military for causing this financial mess by creating some states which were not economically viable and which depended only on federal government allocations.

He said, “In sum, it is evident that most of the states and local governments are not viable and should not have been created in the first place. One disservice to the nation by some military regimes was the creation of these revenue guzzling administrative structures. They have continued slow national development. But for its impracticability one would recommend a constitutional abrogation of some of them. It simply goes to show that any plot to create more states and local governments is plain insanity.”

Vanguard report continues:

Umar who is also the Chairman, Movement for Unity and Progress, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that he was not hoodwinked by the governors by accepting to any bail-out, just as he asked the President to  discourage frequent rush to the Presidential villa by the governors who visit to demand for help.

According to him, if the President must even attend to the governors, he must ask them how they got to this level.

The statement read in full, “The current desperate financial situation of most State government or at least those of them that have declared insolvency, is a nightmare long foretold. And not only by the cassandras of this world. We had cause to warn about the reckless extravagance of those states which led them to a borrowing spree from commercial banks at very high rates of interest. In reaction to our alert, the state governors tried to defend their actions, claiming they were all deliberate plan to finance development projects needed to raise internally generated revenue; a way to cut dependence on oil money.

“No one was fooled, and as we expected, the chickens have finally come home to roost. Most of the states have become insolvent having lost the capacity to meet their most basic fiscal responsibility of paying their workers salaries. They are also unable to pay their contractual obligations including the servicing of their jumbo bank loans.

“Faced with this dire financial situation they are running from pillar to post in search of rescue. They have so far approached the FGN with an ill thought out bailout plan, requiring president Buhari to give them cash or his government to guarantee for them more loans from commercial banks having exhausted the Excess crude account and no bank is willing to advance anymore loans to them. They also want the FGN to instruct their creditors, the commercial banks, to allow them a moratorium period of twenty years without indicating a viable repayment plan within the period. Luckily the banks are privately owned and not subject to any governments dictates.

“It is not at all clear if state Governors ever give thought to the political and even ethical implications of their demands on the Federal Government. Doesn’t it ever occur to them that by always coming to the federal government cap in hand, they expose their own sordid impotence and give additional ammunition to those that question the wisdom of running our peculiar federation through so many states and local governments – all of which depend on the centre to survive? Are they aware that the public has gained the impression that states are run without fiscal discipline especially where the egos and whims of the Governors are quite large?

“But president Buhari would definitely want to ask some questions before he extends a helping hand to any cash-strapped Governors including how they got into the problem in the first place and if such Governors commit to be treated of the following diseases: extravagance, lavish lifestyle, prodigality, profligacy, squandamania as well as corruption.

“One of the reasons given by state governments for their current financial mess is the failure of the FGN to reimburse them for projects executed in their states on its behalf. If such claims are valid, it will be quite strange indeed. Do states with such claims have written contractual agreements they signed with the FGN? The FGN has the structure and capacity to execute its projects and should not ask any state to perform its functions. I am sure President Buhari will not allow himself to be hoodwinked. He must maintain the separation of powers between the tiers of government and enforce budgetary discipline. In fact, he should discourage governors from making frivolous demands from the FGN. This will serve to discourage their frequent visits to Aso Rock.

“In sum, it is evident that most of the states and local governments are nonviable and should not have been created in the first place. One of the greatest disservice to the nation by some military regimes was the creation of these unviable, revenue guzzling administrative (maladministrative) structures. They have continued to serve as a drag to our national development. But for its impracticability one would recommend a constitutional abrogation of some of them. Goes to show that any plot to create more states and local governments is plain insanity.”