Sule Lamido (Jigawa)ACCORDING to the 1999 Constitution, all monies accruing to the federation account must be shared among the three tiers of government. Anything to the contrary is null and void. Which money do we want to save when there is not enough to execute several developmental programmes and projects'Adams Oshiomhole(Edo)THE Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to be fair to her, consulted a few of us governors before the Sovereign Wealth Fund was launched. We gave our support for the launch of the Sovereign Wealth Fund, it was done with our consent; it wasn't done in spite of us.I must say that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has been more engaging and civil in her approach by reaching out to the stakeholders on the matter. It is an ongoing discussion. I believe the matter will still be discussed at our next joint meeting.Saving only when there is excess crude money is not sustainable. No nation has attained greatness, without addressing the issue of infrastructure decisively.Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers)THE rule of law eliminates completely the rule of man. Governors agree that the Federal Government should save but the law has to be respected. What the Federal government has done is merely kidnapping of our money.Section 80 of the Constitution was talking about consolidated revenue, and it also says that the executive authority of a region shall extend to the execution and maintenance of the Constitution of the region and to all matters with respect to which the legislature of the region has to make laws, but shall be so exercised as not to impede or prejudice the exercise of the executive authority of the Federation or to endanger the continuance of Federal Government in Nigeria.Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti)IT is not a problem of the logic of the argument, but we are simply not credible with Nigerians, just like the Nigerian State is not credible with the governors, on the question of Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF). Journalists misconstrue the argument; they think governors don't want savings.No governor that I know has argued against the SWF; but who actually would be in charge of what is going to be saved' Is it the Federal Government' Don't we have a role to play in it' If we have a role to play in it, why don't we have our own Federal Governors' SWF, and the Federal Government would have its own fund'And that is an argument that has been missing in all the criticism of governors, because the perception is that governors just want to take the money and spend; they don't care about the future generation, infrastructure, or any other thing. So, it is a credibility gap that we are suffering from.
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