A former governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi says if Nigerians are opportune to know what each governor earn in a month they would stop talking about the salary of Senators.
Obi stated this while speaking at a dialogue organised by Ripples Centre for Data and Investigative Journalism in Lagos on Thursday.
“None of you knows what a governor earns, quote me anywhere if you know you won’t be here,” he said.
“It is something you can’t imagine. You just know the one of senators, and you are shouting, but what if you know that of the governors?”
Speaking further, Obi disclosed that America’s GDP is way above Nigeria’s but an American senator earns $174,000 (about N50 million) a year but a Nigerian senator earn that amount in just few months.
He said In America, governors earn according to their state. “The governor of California is the highest paid in America, and he earns $192, 000. The smallest state earns $70, 000. But in Nigeria, I can tell you because I’ve been there, the cost of just keeping convoys alone is in millions. And when people ask me why am I saying these things, I tell them that even if we made mistakes yesterday, can’t we correct it today?”
“I asked them, why are all these vehicles following me, and nobody was able to explain to me. I didn’t stop it because of them following me, but the cost of maintaining them was high. I asked them why do we need to spend about N30 million fueling these vehicles that 60 percent are empty when following me?”
“What is the essence of a bulletproof car? Anyone who wants to kill you would come when you are out of the car. For eight years I didn’t use, and they didn’t kill me.”
“You told us that you are going to solve a problem, and we voted you, and now you are telling us that you met a problem, what do you expect to meet?
“You shouldn’t tell us the story of what you met there, we do not expect 100 percent result, but 100 percent effort. We voted you because you said you are going to solve this problem.”
