TheCable

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra, to disclose how much governors earn as emoluments and allowances.

Speaking at an event on Thursday, Obi said if he revealed how much a governor earns, the outrage would be more than what trailed the N13 million pay of senators as disclosed by Shehu Sani, lawmaker representing Kaduna central.

But in a statement on Friday, Emmanuel Onwubiko, national coordinator of HURIWA, said history would be harsh towards Obi if he fails to publicly reveal how much the governors spend from public treasuries including the “illegal security votes running into billions of naira”.

Onwubiko said the former governor’s disclosure would ensure transparency in governance.

“We are delighted to read from the erudite erstwhile Anambra state governor that he is ready to disclose how much each governor of the 36 states of the federation pick up each month,” the statement read.

“Our challenge to this gentleman is to please without further delay, disclose to Nigerians how much of public fund are spent by governors. We believe that the public and transparent disclosure of these exact figures of public cash spent by governors will promote in a very fundamental way, the principles of open government, transparency and accountability and would result in the systematic clamour for immediate reforms to cut down on the costs of governance so as to promote good governance.”

HURIWA further called for the abrogation of constituency projects fund and the pruning down of the amounts paid to legislators and governors as allowances.

The group said the “extraordinary” pay of the senators is the one the reasons why the election periods are characterised by bloody violence by different political power hungry selfish Nigerians.