Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, has said that governors no longer use convoys of 30 to 40 vehicles as measures to cut costs in governance.
Speaking on a monitored Channels Television programme on Monday, the governor said his colleagues were taking serious steps to minimise unnecessary spending in their respective domains.
“All the governors try to look inwards on their spendings. You don’t see governors going in a convoy of 30, 40 vehicles. You see us mostly now with three or four vehicles,” he said.
“Most of the governors have dropped unnecessary expenditure to reduce the cost of governance. That is the first step to reduce the cost of governance.”
Rather than borrowing money for spending, he explained that state governors are prioritising employment in the education, health sectors.
According to him, most governors are not employing services that do not have a direct impact on the lives of the people.
He also debunked insinuations that governors were feasting heavily on security votes in their respective states.
While noting that the amount budgeted for security votes has reduced drastically, the Jigawa governor explained that some of his colleagues don’t even have any security vote.
Governor Abubakar also revealed steps by governors to look beyond oil and generate more money for the survival of states.
One of these, he stated, is the zero-oil initiative that will create more exportable products that will enable states to generate more revenue.
