The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has voiced strong concerns over what it describes as a widespread lack of accountability among government officials, both at the national and state levels.
In a Saturday interview on Channels Television’s “Sunrise,” Kolawole Oluwadare, the Deputy Director of SERAP, stated that a majority of Nigerian citizens view their state governors as being wasteful with public resources.
Oluwadare linked this perception directly to the country’s high poverty rate, arguing that the wasteful habits of state governors are widely perceived by the public.
He pointed out that President Bola Tinubu, as the Commander-in-Chief, has a significant amount of influence over the economy and does not require external validation from a foreign government, like the US, to understand the problem.
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According to Oluwadare, state governors have largely failed in their duty to lead with public trust. He suggested this failure is also partly due to insufficient action from the President.
Oluwadare illustrated this point by saying that governors often choose to focus on erecting large, expensive buildings rather than investing in essential infrastructure that would benefit the public. He further explained that although the roles and responsibilities of public officials are clearly defined in the Nigerian Constitution, a culture of impunity has weakened the system.
To address this, Oluwadare proposed that public trust should be placed in the office itself, rather than the person who holds it. He believes this shift would make office holders more accountable and ultimately promote better governance.
