The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has said governors and local government chairmen should bear responsibility for kidnappings occurring within their jurisdictions rather than the Federal Government.
Bwala made the remarks on Wednesday during an appearance on The Morayo Afolabi-Brown Show, where he responded to questions about the Federal Government’s handling of the abduction of schoolchildren in Oyo State and the broader security situation in the country.
“Every kidnapping and abduction that takes place in any state of Nigeria, hold that governor responsible. All the kidnappings have taken place in local government,” he said.
He referred to the Save the School Initiative, a federal programme through which states reportedly received funding to install perimeter fencing and early warning systems in schools. He urged Nigerians to demand explanations from their governors on how the funds were utilised.
“There was this thing called the Save the School Initiative, in which monies were given to states to create perimeter fencing, early warning signs and all of those checks in schools. Ask your governor where that money went to,” he said.
Bwala also claimed that local governments were not receiving funds allocated directly to them, using Oyo State as an example.
“Every state in Nigeria, and in the local government, there is money that should have gone directly to that local government. I was in Oyo and I engaged with the Oyo State Government. In three local governments in Oyo, I said this local government has 600 million coming here every month, and that’s how it is across Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, direct access to such allocations would enable local government chairmen to invest in maternal healthcare, primary education, community security through vigilante groups, and welfare programmes for elderly residents.
The presidential aide also criticised what he described as Nigerians’ tendency to rely solely on government action, urging citizens to actively demand accountability from their local governments.
“It’s only in Nigeria that citizens wait for manna to come from heaven. In all other countries of the world, citizens take their destinies in their hands,” he said.
Bwala further explained that Nigeria’s constitutional structure does not give the President direct control over state governors, limiting the Federal Government’s ability to compel them to act.
“The unfortunate part of the democracy we are practising today is that it does not place the President as a head boy or prefect of the governors. That’s why when Obasanjo was struggling with that, he had to go outside the Constitution to start impeaching governors and even holding monies destined for them. Asiwaju is a democrat; he will not do that. He can only urge them,” Bwala said.
He encouraged Nigerians to organise town hall meetings at the local government level and work with the media to demand transparency over public funds, noting that sustained civic engagement would likely produce better results than isolated complaints.
Responding to a question from an audience member about the abducted Oyo schoolchildren and teachers, who have remained in captivity for more than 50 days, Bwala said the Federal Government’s primary objective was to ensure they were rescued alive rather than pursuing an operation that could endanger them.
“The number one responsibility of government in a hostage-taking situation is to rescue them and rescue them alive. If you use force carelessly, you may end up jeopardising the lives of the people that are kidnapped,” he said.
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