Big government palaver

In 2009, while addressing members of the UK Conservative Party, David Cameron gave notice of sweeping spending cuts whenever the party took over the British government. In his keynote speech, dubbed “Age of Austerity”, Cameron said: “Over the next few years, we will have to take some incredibly tough decisions on taxation, spending and borrowing – things that really affect people’s lives…. In the weeks and months ahead, the shadow cabinet will redouble its efforts to identify wasteful and unnecessary public spending…to identify significant future savings.”

It was therefore not surprising that in October 2010, George Osborne as Chancellor of the Exchequer unveiled what was described by the media as the biggest UK spending for decades but derided by the opposition Labour Party as “a reckless gamble with people’s livelihoods”.

In the review, which Osborne described as “Britain’s unavoidable deficit reduction plan (to) put Britain’s public services and welfare system on a sustainable long-term footing”, budgets of government departments were slashed by an average of 19 percent over four years. This reporter recalls that his favourite magazine, Developments, published by the UK Department for International Development (DfID), was one of the objects hit by the axe. The letter to subscribers, by DfID’s chief Andrew Mitchell, captured the essence of the UK Government’s action.

“Across government,” wrote Mitchell, “there is a drive to get more resources to the frontline, and this decision about Developments magazine is supported by a government-wide freeze on all non-essential marketing and advertising expenditure. With record levels of national debt, all departments need to be smarter….”

21^st century economy, 20^th century bureaucracy

Across the pond (from the UK), in January 2012, President Barack Obama, announced a plan to request the US Congress to restore presidential authority which would allow him to “streamline government to make it work better for the American people while eliminating duplication, waste and inefficiencies”.

As he put it, “We live in a 21st century economy, but we’ve still got a government organised for the 20th century. Our economy has fundamentally changed – as has the world – but the government has not. The needs of our citizens have fundamentally changed but their government has not. Instead, it has often grown more complex.”

The fact sheet on that statement listed six government departments and agencies which focused primarily on business and trade in the United States’ Federal Government.  The contention was that these six bodies were like a maze, particularly for small businesses, to navigate. Obama therefore proposed to “consolidate those six departments and agencies into one Department with one website, one phone number and one mission – helping American businesses succeed. One Department: there will be one Department where entrepreneurs can go from the day they come up with an idea and need a patent, to the day they start building a product and need a warehouse, to the day they are ready to export and need help breaking into new markets overseas.”

That same 2012, a presidential committee which the Nigerian government, led by then President Goodluck Jonathan, had set up a year earlier (on 18 August, 2011) to look at how to rationalise and restructure its Ministries, Departments and Agencies, submitted its report, noting that it was convinced that if its recommendations were “accepted and diligently implemented…huge reductions would be made in the cost of running government and greater efficiency ensured”. The report now goes by the name Oronsaye Report, after its chairman (Steve Oronsaye), who was once head of the Nigeria’s civil service.

The Committee established that there were 541 parastatals, commissions or agencies, and bodies backed by the constitution. Two hundred and fifty-eight of these “are fully-fledged parastatals or agencies” (confusing?). But, wait for these, 50 of these were found to “exist without enabling laws” – and that includes the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

You may access the report here: http://agora.nigeriagovernance.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Oronsaye-Main-Report.pdf

By the way, there had been several of this kind of report produced by various other committees in the past. Of course, if there had been implementation, the Oronsaye Committee may have been needless.

Which is why many who heard Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai say recently that the National Economic Council (NEC) has suggested to the Federal Government to consider implementing the Oronsaye Report might have shrugged, “hmmm”, and moved on to other serious things. More so, with reports of rising unemployment across the federation, it is doubtful if the Federal Government would consider any move now that would lead to further termination of jobs, even as it is inevitable to reduce cost of governance. As John F Kennedy said, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining”. In 2012, Nigeria earned US$62.9 billion (about N12.5 trillion) from oil sales. Pay-outs to rationalised staff would have been readily accommodated. Not now.

Hard, yet wise decisions are needed.

The words of a former chaplain of the Aso Villa Chapel, Rev. William Okoye, are instructive: “It is not going to be easy, but that is the cost of leadership. Nigeria is about the most expensive in terms of paying of political office holders and we are not so rich. If other rich countries could cut down their cost of governance, we should do that as well, unless we don’t want to move forward, especially given our present economic challenges.”

But then, according to the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr Joe Abah, the BPSR had carried out a comprehensive review of both the Oronsaye report and the government white paper and provided its advice to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Abah did not provide the details of the advisory. It is not also sure if the NEC was briefed on this development.

What about some thinking outside of the box?

On October 28, 2011, President Barack Obama challenged American government agencies “to think beyond their organisational boundaries in the best interest of serving America’s business community, and start thinking and acting more like the businesses they serve”.

That gave birth to BusinessUSA – a “centralised, one-stop platform to make it easier than ever for businesses to access services to help them grow and hire” (Visit https://businessusa.gov).

Nigeria needs something like this now, more than ever before. To quote Obama again, “Winning the future in the global economy will require a Government that wisely allocates its scarce resources to maximise efficiency and effectiveness.” Or, put differently, evolve or dissolve.

Box

Who does what?

During the week, there were reports of the seizure of 2.5 tonnes of “plastic rice” said to have been smuggled into Nigeria “by unscrupulous businessmen”.

The head of the Customs unit which carried out the action, Haruna Mamudu, was quoted as saying the rice was very sticky after it was boiled.

However, Nigeria’s Health Minister Isaac Adewole, a professor, took to Twitter and debunked the claim.

What followed, however, showed that the issue of rationalisation and restructuring of Nigeria’s numerous agencies will remain with us – until something is done.

One Ismaila Olowo wondered why government agencies were contradicting themselves and expressed frustration with “duplication of offices”.

Dr Joe Abah, director-general of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (see main story) managed to provide some clarifications. He must have to become Big Brother to see other queries/lamentations and intervene accordingly.

 

‘Lolu Lusi