Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has accused governors in Nigeria of feeding off the country’s treasury at the people’s expense.
In an interview with select journalists in Abuja, Mr Lawal said that if he had his way he would scrap state governments and allow only federal and local governments.
“I’m not a constitutional expert but I know if I had my way in the setup of this country, the governors in the middle are just parasites that are taking the major share of the resources that are supposed to go to states, they abuse it,” he said.
“If I had my way, there would be federal government and local governments, such that the resources that are due to the state would be shared equally with the local government at that level and a lot of things will be done.
“In the case of the federal government, we understand why it has to be federal government. There are some institutions that have to be national in itself. The army, for example, the federal police must be there, foreign affairs must be there but the states, we can devolve the powers back of the states to the local governments.”
Lawal backed President Muhammadu Buhari over his insistence in retaining military heads despite calls for their removal over rising insecurity.
The former SGF also made an argument for unicameral legislature, saying the presidential system does not fit the Nigerian society.
“The presidential system is so expensive and the presidential system has concentrated power and authority on one person and whoever else he chooses to delegate that authority to.
“In a place like Nigeria where we have different aspirations and different belief systems and different world views, decision making needs to be decentralised,” he said.
Lawal is standing trial for alleged fraudulent award of N544.1 million for grass-cutting contract through the Presidential Initiative for North East.
