Obi decries high cost of governance

A former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi has decried the high cost of governance in the country, calling on civil society groups to help reverse the ugly trend.

Obi spoke after receiving a good governance award from a coalition of civil societies in Anambra State.

He insisted that there was enough money to take care of every Nigerian, but for the misplaced priorities by those in power.

“There is enough money to govern every state, local government and the country in a way that there will be improvement. All that is required is to cut down on the cost of governance,” the former governor stated.

“Your work as civil society is to question the waste in the society. If you change Nigeria, you change Africa,” Obi further said.

On how he was able to leave the state in good financial balance despite fast-tracking Anambra’s development without borrowing a kobo, Obi said: “We didn’t print money; all that we did was to cut down on the cost of governance.”

Revealing his specific cost-saving steps while in government, Obi said that his administration did not maintain a government lodge in Abuja as is customary among Nigerian states but that he stayed in hotels anytime he visited Abuja.

Continuing, Obi said he refused to build a Presidential Lodge, which would have cost Anambra about half a billion. He said to solve the problem of where to accommodate the then President Olusegun Obasanjo during a visit to the state, he vacated the governor’s lodge for the august visitor, checked into a hotel with his wife for the period of the visit, spending just over N100, 000.

“I never travelled with more than four persons and never travelled outside this country with an uninvited person,” the former governor said.