The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has challenged state governors to disclose to Nigerians what they do with the huge allocations they receive regularly from the Federal Government.

According to the minister, many of the states get monetary allocations that far outweigh the annual budget of some neigbouring countries to Nigeria.

Okonjo-Iweala spoke on Sunday at Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, while delivering the Babcock University’s convocation lecture entitled: ‘Transforming Nigeria’s economy: Opportunities and challenges’.

Earlier in the ceremony, which was dedicated to the abducted Chibok school girls,  the President and Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. James Makinde, said the institution was committed to the pursuit of academic excellence.

Makinde, noted that of the 1,560 graduands, 44 obtained first class from the university, while another batch of 1,227 obtained second class upper division, while 59 candidates obtained doctorate degrees.

Okonjo-Iweala addressed the issue of financial misappropriation in her lecture, she said, `“A lot of attention is turned on the Federal Government. So, we also need to ask what our states and local governments do with the resources they get.”

The minister said the states were getting their monthly allocations, adding that the information was being published in the media so that the people would know what accrued to the federal, state and local governments.

She added, “We need to ask more questions; poverty eradication and building of infrastructure are not only by the Federal Government. In 2013, the top 10 allocations were going to the following states: Akwa Ibom, N260bn; Rivers, N220bn; Delta N209bn; Bayelsa, N173bn; Lagos, N168bn; Kano, N140bn; Katsina, N103bn; Oyo, N100bn; Kaduna N97bn; and Borno at number 10 with N94bn.

“These were the allocations all these states got last year. The question is what did they do with the money?”

Okonjo-Iweala, who urged Nigerians to be more discerning, noted that the governors had no reason not to develop their states, given the huge amounts they regularly got from Federation Account.

The minister alongside the Executive Producer of Moments with Mo on Ebonyi Live TV, Mo Abudu, received the university’s honorary doctorate degrees.