- Safiu Kehinde
A Northern Nigerian man, Musa Ahmed, has accused governors across the region prioritising Hajj and mass wedding sponsorship as well as renovation of mosques over investment in infrastructural development.
Ahmed, in a post on his X handle on Monday, compared the northern governors to Lagos State Governor who had last week unveiled new set of trains for the state’s Blue rail transport.
“While the Lagos state Governor is busy unveiling new train sets, his counterparts from the North are busy sponsoring people to Hajj, gifting them huge money, building/renovating mosques and sponsoring mass weddings. Same position. Different Priorities.” He wrote.
The X user further faulted the N450,000 donation to each Hajj pilgrim by Sokoto state governor, Ahmad Aliyu.
He highlighted the state’s challenges ranging from the educational system to security which the state government should have prioritize.
Ahmed also decried the high rate of poverty in the state as he warned that the residents will continue to remain in abject poverty if they fail to hold their government accountable.
“Sokoto State faces challenges in its educational system, insecurity, inadequate resources, and high staff absenteeism most especially in secondary schools.
“The State also lack sufficient qualified teachers and adequate educational resources. That’s aside, the high level of out-of-school children and a bunch of almajiris scattered in and outside the state.
“The state also top the list of states with multidimensional poverty rate of 90.5%.
“But, the state Governor has gifted 450k to each of the Sokoto 3, 200 pilgrims presently in Saudi Arabia.That’s almost 1.5bn.
“Recall, the Governor has also spent 1.2bn in drilling boreholes in the state.
“If a state that’s facing the above mentioned challenges could be seen spending recklessly as highlighted earlier, then, I’m sorry we’ll forever remain in abject poverty in all ramifications.
“Why can’t you people speak up? Hold your Governors accountable. It’s your resources, it’s your destiny, and that of your children they are playing ludo with. I’m seriously in pain 😭” He wrote.