Dear Mr. President, there is a popular
contradiction by which the Nigerian system is globally identified at
present. On the one hand, the country readily comes as an example when
the world’s poverty index is the issue. According to the World Fact Book
of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, 70 per cent of the
Nigerian population lives below poverty line.
On the other, whenever the survey of countries where cost of governance is high, and political office holders live in undue affluence is being conducted, Nigeria still rates among the first. As you, therefore, settle down to bring about the change you promised Nigerians, you need to take a hard look at this petrifying irony.
It is a syndrome that pervades all levels of government. Stemming it is also not a step that a someone without a strong mind will like to take, since those who have been enjoying the ungodly leverage will not want to give up on it that easily. For instance, the federal lawmakers, who are notorious for the outrageous earnings they allocate to themselves, will not be in a hurry to understand why government has to radically cut down its expenses.
Until recently, all Nigerians knew about the legislators’ record gluttony is the ‘jumbo’ pay they get - in which a senator reportedly earns about N15m monthly, while his counterpart in the lower house pockets a ‘paltry’ sum of a bout N10m. But now, we have learnt that a legislature that is not saddled with any capital-intensive responsibility could go as far as taking a loan that runs into as much as N10bn.
Dear President, I am referring to the matter in which former Speaker Dimeji Bankole is now in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Definitely, the Senate and the House of Representatives, which, worse still, have been lackadaisical at the primary duty of making good laws, are a big burden on the country. Your government should initiate a process that can correct the anomaly that the legislators’ pay represents.
While you must inspire your promised breath of fresh air to fumigate the stinking hallowed chambers, charity must first begin at home. However, where to start pruning government spending is at the Executive arm where it is even easier for you to make a change. Many believe that the lawmakers have got so much criticism on the jumbo pay only because what the Presidency, ministers and other office holders earn is not in public domain. Some of the legislators have even alluded to this. So, you must urgently mop up the executive excesses and waste that drain the country and starve government of funds for developmental projects.
And, if I may add, Sir, you seem to have lost the golden opportunity to do so when you turned down a plea from the Gen. T. Y. Danjuma-led Presidential Advisory Committee. The proliferation of ministers and ministers of state has translated to nothing other than the financial drain on the national treasury. Nigeria is notorious for being a land where a single public office holder may have as many as five official/personal staff - special adviser on this, special assistant on that, with each of these also flaunting their own aides, all to the detriment of the nation.
Mr. President, this ‘tradition’ is odd and unrealistic in a nation where virtually every sector needs rebuilding.
In civilised and truly development-hungry climes, government is run like a business - a serious business for that matter. Permit me to ask, Sir: if you were running a private business, how prudent would you be? If any of the ministers was running a business, could he afford to surround himself with all kinds of personal aides that contribute little to nothing to the profit scheme? One is not really saying a government and private enterprise are the same thing. But the same principles of prudence and accountability are working for other countries that are making progress.
Of course, in business organisations where the chief executives went ‘gaga’ and became profligate, as in the cases of the embattled financial institutions, we all know what happened. Sir, in most parts, Nigeria is being run the way the hawks ran some financial institutions into the pit from where they are struggling to get out now. As a result, we have continued to be in distress, out of which you have, thank God, vowed to lift the nation. Now, how will this be possible if you do not decisively cut down on the cost of governance?
Anyway, Mr. President, let’s agree that for political reasons, you have bowed to the pressure of having to extend the tradition of working with an enlarged cabinet. The hope is that you will be able to prune this down in style as time goes on. Even with the extended cabinet, you should still make a point by strictly monitoring the expenditures of the ministries, commissions, parastatals and agencies. But again, the discipline has to start from the top.
Let me say this; for instance, many people were puzzled when the Federal Government recently ordered for three aircraft at the cost of N21bn. Whatever reasons government would adduce for this - need for mobility, security etc. - this is definitely a staggering amount in a country where hospitals are begging for drugs, many schools are without books and chairs and where many roads are desperately in need of repair. A contradiction here, again, is that the take off grant of each of the six new universities being established by the Federal Government is N1.5b. Unfortunately, still, the only aircraft - Falcon 7X - that has been delivered has been grounded, although for technical reasons.
Mr. President, let prudence guide all the decisions you shall be taking so that it will be well with the country.
By Akeem Lasisi Courtesy Of: Punch
On the other, whenever the survey of countries where cost of governance is high, and political office holders live in undue affluence is being conducted, Nigeria still rates among the first. As you, therefore, settle down to bring about the change you promised Nigerians, you need to take a hard look at this petrifying irony.
It is a syndrome that pervades all levels of government. Stemming it is also not a step that a someone without a strong mind will like to take, since those who have been enjoying the ungodly leverage will not want to give up on it that easily. For instance, the federal lawmakers, who are notorious for the outrageous earnings they allocate to themselves, will not be in a hurry to understand why government has to radically cut down its expenses.
Until recently, all Nigerians knew about the legislators’ record gluttony is the ‘jumbo’ pay they get - in which a senator reportedly earns about N15m monthly, while his counterpart in the lower house pockets a ‘paltry’ sum of a bout N10m. But now, we have learnt that a legislature that is not saddled with any capital-intensive responsibility could go as far as taking a loan that runs into as much as N10bn.
Dear President, I am referring to the matter in which former Speaker Dimeji Bankole is now in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Definitely, the Senate and the House of Representatives, which, worse still, have been lackadaisical at the primary duty of making good laws, are a big burden on the country. Your government should initiate a process that can correct the anomaly that the legislators’ pay represents.
While you must inspire your promised breath of fresh air to fumigate the stinking hallowed chambers, charity must first begin at home. However, where to start pruning government spending is at the Executive arm where it is even easier for you to make a change. Many believe that the lawmakers have got so much criticism on the jumbo pay only because what the Presidency, ministers and other office holders earn is not in public domain. Some of the legislators have even alluded to this. So, you must urgently mop up the executive excesses and waste that drain the country and starve government of funds for developmental projects.
And, if I may add, Sir, you seem to have lost the golden opportunity to do so when you turned down a plea from the Gen. T. Y. Danjuma-led Presidential Advisory Committee. The proliferation of ministers and ministers of state has translated to nothing other than the financial drain on the national treasury. Nigeria is notorious for being a land where a single public office holder may have as many as five official/personal staff - special adviser on this, special assistant on that, with each of these also flaunting their own aides, all to the detriment of the nation.
Mr. President, this ‘tradition’ is odd and unrealistic in a nation where virtually every sector needs rebuilding.
In civilised and truly development-hungry climes, government is run like a business - a serious business for that matter. Permit me to ask, Sir: if you were running a private business, how prudent would you be? If any of the ministers was running a business, could he afford to surround himself with all kinds of personal aides that contribute little to nothing to the profit scheme? One is not really saying a government and private enterprise are the same thing. But the same principles of prudence and accountability are working for other countries that are making progress.
Of course, in business organisations where the chief executives went ‘gaga’ and became profligate, as in the cases of the embattled financial institutions, we all know what happened. Sir, in most parts, Nigeria is being run the way the hawks ran some financial institutions into the pit from where they are struggling to get out now. As a result, we have continued to be in distress, out of which you have, thank God, vowed to lift the nation. Now, how will this be possible if you do not decisively cut down on the cost of governance?
Anyway, Mr. President, let’s agree that for political reasons, you have bowed to the pressure of having to extend the tradition of working with an enlarged cabinet. The hope is that you will be able to prune this down in style as time goes on. Even with the extended cabinet, you should still make a point by strictly monitoring the expenditures of the ministries, commissions, parastatals and agencies. But again, the discipline has to start from the top.
Let me say this; for instance, many people were puzzled when the Federal Government recently ordered for three aircraft at the cost of N21bn. Whatever reasons government would adduce for this - need for mobility, security etc. - this is definitely a staggering amount in a country where hospitals are begging for drugs, many schools are without books and chairs and where many roads are desperately in need of repair. A contradiction here, again, is that the take off grant of each of the six new universities being established by the Federal Government is N1.5b. Unfortunately, still, the only aircraft - Falcon 7X - that has been delivered has been grounded, although for technical reasons.
Mr. President, let prudence guide all the decisions you shall be taking so that it will be well with the country.
By Akeem Lasisi Courtesy Of: Punch
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