It all started in 1999 when a
self-righteous and self-vindictive retired general, Olusegun Obasanjo
miraculously mounted the seat of the presidency. The ‘career statesman’ initiated
the jumbo pay for all elected and appointed political office holders for reasons
well known to him. There were also the reported N50 million bribes to each of
the 360 House of Representatives members and 109 senators in order to support
his third term bid. Honorable Hariman is still a living witness to this. What
a way to waste Nigeria’s money.
The all-knowing Obasanjo who was almost
everywhere in Nigeria before and even after his disastrous presidency, increased
the salary and allowances of the National Assembly members to a frightening level
to make them the highest paid parliamentarians in the whole world. The rich
countries of the world in America and Europe, as well as most oil-rich gulf states
cannot match Nigeria today in terms of the emoluments for their various parliamentarians.
The state assemblies too are involved in the jumbo pay saga. Most of the
assembly men today are super-rich entities with choice properties scattered
across the country. After spending less than four years in the parliament
virtually doing nothing tangible, they come with swollen accounts, properties
and whatever you can talk about in opulence.
Passing through some areas in Lagos, one
would wonder how the owners of such magnificent buildings and big businesses
dotted around town came about the resources to achieve this. But it was once
said that the National Assembly members comprising of 109 senators and 360 House
of Representatives members consume about one quarter of the country’s income. The
hint was dropped by the then governor of the Central Bank, Mallam Sule Lamido
Sanusi who is now the Emir of Kano. Aside this, the members are still not
satisfied as they are daily struggling for juicy positions and contracts from the
executive arm of government.
According to a reliable source, they are
also carried along in all yearly budget proposals. Of course you know the
implication of this. Coming back to the states, most of our governors are
hypocrites. They personify fraud, they are in fact liars. An example suffices
in a south west governor who pretends a lot. It has never been like that for
the state before, but the governance of state is premised on three stands, the governor,
the son, and the wife. This governor has not conducted the local government election
in all the years of his tenure, yet he receives allocation for the local
governments, he runs the state like his personal estate. Just like most governors,
Lagos is his home, while the state he governs is his farm. He is reportedly
owing workers seven months’ salary as at present. Our governors are wicked and
heartless, call them to account for the use of their allocations, they will
concoct figures.
They all pocket the local government
funds. Local government councils are like parastatals in hands of the governors,
no thanks to the faulty constitutional provisions. Local government allocations
are also the direct funds of the governors; they decide what to do with them on
behalf of the figure head chairmen.
As in the Presidency, there are too
many political appointees in the state, where you have PA to SA, SSA to PPA and
huge emoluments are attached to them even for performing no important tasks. A
big drainpipe indeed!
Moving down to the major drainpipe in
Nigeria, the local governments, there is no much difference between the state
and this tier of government, but the chief executives of the local government are
not directly in control of their allocations except the internally generated
revenue, they too cannot really account for their little allocation and huge
internally generated revenue particularly in Lagos.
Local government development councils
like Coker Aguda and Itire, Ikate are examples of councils where accountability
and transparency have been thrown into the bin. The immediate past chairmen are
stinking rich and there is no development of any kind in these councils. The
chairmen ride in posh cars, live in mansions and establish massive investments
in various sectors.
What really is the work of the legislators?
We all know it is law making, how many laws have our lawmakers in all the three
tiers of local government made that justify the huge amount Nigeria has
expended on them? What has been the general impact of their legislation? The
past speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, once said
the legislators are doing a lot of work, hence they deserve the jumbo pay. What
a patriotic declaration! What really are the duties or rather impact of the
thousands of councilors in the country that justify their salary? Most local
government councilors tenure expire without any bye-laws being passed; even
when passed such laws are not implemented. At the councils, it is business as
usual for the councilors, supervisors and all other functionless
appointees. At the local government level, the governors are quick to appoint sole
caretakers or what is called executive secretaries in some state, clearly an
undemocratic practice. Sometimes, it may be used as a stop gap for election to
be conducted and many times it is to conserve fund or siphon fund as the
case may be.
Concerted efforts must be made by the government;
it is an aggregate effort directed at making progress in a constituted state. As
Beth News believes a tree cannot make a forest, so also a tier of government is
not capable of doing it alone. Leaving the Federal Government alone to bear brunt
always is no longer acceptable. Corruption at the local government level is
very high simply because much focus and attention is not given to the councils.
Furthermore the press does not see the local government as prime target for
coverage, it only focuses largely on the federal and state governments.
As the new president Muhammadu Buhari
settles down to the business of governance, we implore him not only to be fair
in dealing with people he is meant to lead, but within his constitutional power
he must look for a way of reducing the cost of Governance, reduce the army of
redundant political appointees and shun political jobbers. He needs to also redress
the costly mistakes made by Obasanjo (the jumbo payment originator). The number
of ministers, commissioners, special advisers, special assistants and
supervisors numbers should be trimmed and streamlined.
Beth News sincerely hopes that these
measures will go a long way to improving the fortress of Nigerian economy if
conscientiously pursued to eradicate corruption. Total eradication of
corruption may not be immediately feasible, but reducing the cost of governance
as the quickest possible time is possible if there is political will. The truth
of the matter is that the tiny ruling class is taking too much of the country’s
income at the detriment of other. Capital project suffers also, because of
massive recurrent accounts.
The first aid the country needs is to
act fast on these even before other measures are taken. If our recurrent
expenditures are reduced by half, we will get the CHANGE we are talking about
or at least get higher percentage. There is a sharp drop in the world market
price of crude oil, our major income earner; it is now up to the present
administration to manage and utilize the meager income and there should not be
frivolities, and unnecessary foreign trips on the part of government officials
should be avoided.
Fighting corruption and indiscipline
can only be achieved through leadership by example so as to have a better
Nigeria. Failure is certainly not an option for this government because
Nigerians have placed so much hope on it. Buhari should not think about the
next election. The fleet of official aircraft and cars should be reduced as the
huge procurement and maintenance cost is presently not sustainable. Also President
Buhari should be mindful of those who surround him especially most of his party
men who are greedy and selfish as they may choke him up. He should also screen
their various advices before taking or using them. Buhari should listen more to
the press, pressure groups, professionals, labour than the politicians.
It is reportedly said that the Presidency
alone has 166 departments where millions if not billions of Nigeria is being
unnecessarily expended while the state and local governments also have their
fair share of wasteful departments. All these must be looked into in order to
control wastage in the form of overheads and expenditures’.
The vision for CHANGE in Nigeria should
be for all Nigerians irrespective of their party affiliations, tribe, language
and religion. Mark it, it is not a victory for the north as may be presumed by
some northern politicians, neither is it a victory for the all progressive
chieftains.
Nigerians are keenly watching the new
president and they are saying, keep to your campaign promises.
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