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Group tackles Ebonyi Governor over N551.5 million religious pilgrimage subsidy, says it’s economic prodigality
Worried by the prevalent poverty in Ebonyi State in the South Eastern Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation, Oganihu Ebonyi has slammed Governor Francis Nwifuru for allocating N551.5 million pilgrimage subsidy to certain individuals in the State.
The group described the subsidy as economic sabotage, prodigality and misappropriation, wondering what value would the subsidy for those travelling on religious ground add to governance in the state.
Oganihu is a group of professionals from Ebonyi State thatt monitors governance and promote the success, sustainable progress, and development of Ebonyi State.
They said Governor Nwifuru was involved in financial absurdity lately and was the only governir in South East that spend billions of Naira sponsoring select individuals to travel around the world to worship their God.
In a statement signed by, Director of Research and Publications, Ani, Nwachukwu Agwu and Charles Otu, Director, Media and Communications, and made available to journalists in Abakiliki, stressed that Nwifuru’s action was against the interest of Ebonyi citizens and they didn’t expect them to get involved in frivolities at a time that abject poverty was staring on faces of people.
The statement urged the governor to invest more in security, basic education and primary healthcare and maternal care, rural access roads, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), decaying that substantial amount being committed as religious subsidy was detrimental to the growth and development of the State.
“We identify with Ebonyians on the public outrage generated by the Ebonyi State Government’s policy to spend N551.5 million subsidizing the 2025.
“When combined with the amount appropriated for Christian Pilgrimages and other state-sponsored religious excursions, religious subsidies run into billions of Naira and consume a significant percentage of the state’s annual appropriation laws.
“Relatedly, the recent spate of violent attacks on rural communities such as the Nkalaha community in Ishielu local council, where bandits destroyed properties and livelihoods worth billions of Naira, killed tens of innocent people, ransacked entire villages for plunders and displaced thousands of residents, suggest a resurgence of rural banditry in Ebonyi State.
“That criminal actors could perpetrate fatal attacks without effective confrontation or pushback from security agencies suggests a lack of adequate security response against state aggressors and criminals.
Why then should the Ebonyi State Government consider religious subsidy a priority at the expense of securing lives and properties? What is the logic?
“Another unsettling development in the state is the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) strike action on the grounds of nonpayment of salaries and arrears for about 6 months.
How can teachers go for months without salaries, and no official is held accountable and punished? We argue that the negligence so far suffered in managing the strike action is a death knell on the government’s policy priorities and orientation. Again, we approximate this negligence as economic sabotage.
” In the interim, we do not want to dabble into several allegations of grand corruption against some heads of Ministries, Department, and Agencies (MDAs) and several other procurement infractions reported in the award of major contracts in the state because we are still collating and understudying these infractions so as to petition and institute legal challenges against all bureaucrats and politicians involved.
“However, we state our resolve and commitment to mount appropriate legal challenges to determine if wanton corruption is part of the official policy of the Ebonyi State Government.
We hope that this will open up the space for effective citizen engagement in resource governance and administration in the state.
“Back to the N551.5 million religious subsidy being the first tranche of billions of Naira wasted annually on religious excursions, we call on Governor Francis Nwifuru to rescind the policy and apologize to Ebonyians (voters and taxpayers) whom this religious subsidy saga has damaged their trust in the intention and capacity of the state government to pursue “the good life” or efficiently and effectively deliver democratic dividends.
We do not fail to recognize that religious freedom is a democratic right, but those who wish to travel around the globe to worship their God should do so at their own personal costs.
“The growing envelope of religious subsidy in this state is a misplaced priority and should be challenged or resisted by every patriotic citizen. We will keep our eyes on the religious subsidy and shall continue to adopt new democratic strategies to challenge its desirability and other policies we deem anti-people in Ebonyi State.”
