Those Shouting Over Senators’ Allowances Will Weep Over Govs Earnings -Peter Obi

Former Anambra Governor, Peter Obi, has said Nigerians who yell over senators’ allowances would be speechless if they found out what governors earn.

Obi, who spoke during the ‘Ripples Dialogue’ that held in Lagos on Thursday, made comparisons of what governors and Senators in Nigeria and the United States earn.

The former governor was among the panellists at the dialogue organised by the Ripples Centre for Data and Investigative Journalism.

While admitting that the likes of him made mistakes as former governors, Obi suggested that governance both at the federal and state level must be pruned.

The ex-governor recalled how he was able to cut costs by reducing the number of vehicles in his convoy.

“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?”

“America’s GDP is way above Nigeria’s but an American senator earns $174,000 (about N50 million) a year and you can imagine what his Nigerian counterpart earns in a month,” 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?”

On how he reduced his convoy’s vehicles, Obi said, “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.”

The former governor also berated Nigerian politicians who only take to complains after they must have been voted into power.

He said, “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,” he added.