Nigeria, governance and migration

Nigerians continue to hold the short end of the stick in various areas of the world. The specifics are Indonesia, South Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. At first blush, one is bound to wonder why we continue to feature prominently in these unwholesome scenes. One answer probably lies in the fact that Nigeria is the demographic powerhouse of Africa. By the latest reckoning, our population has been estimated to be around 160 million. Consequently, wherever people are being put on the spot for certain acts, chances are that a Nigerian will be there.

For those with a dark sense of humour, one can almost say: the ugly Nigerian. Even then, in using the word ugly, we are not really talking about ungainly physical features. Rather, we are simply referring to the pervasive presence of Nigerians in various corners of the globe. And in any case, the phrase “the ugly Nigerian” is not even original. It harks back to the ugly American. For wherever one looked, an American was bound to be present. But the comparisons end here. You do not find Americans as targets of xenophobic attacks in South Africa. And to boot, they are certainly not being washed off the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Consequently, what much of the immediate foregoing suggests is that the population factor in itself cannot fully explain why the Nigerian is present in almost all untoward situations around the world. If demographic strength were to blame, then nationals of other demographic powerhouses like China, India and even Indonesia should have been found in, say, South Africa, as migrants.

This then takes us to the fundamental question of why Nigerians are to be found in various less-than-desirable contexts. The answer lies in the quality of governance that is available in our nation-space.

Understandably, there are several shades of this problem. Why, for instance, has good governance continued to elude us till date? Mercifully, one of our very own, Chinua Achebe, provided the answer. According to him, there is nothing wrong with features like our air, flora, and fauna. Rather, he contended that the affliction is that of ‘failure of leadership’. In other words, governance or lack of same is really the Achilles heel of this social formation. Apart from the bare-faced corruption, whose essence is defined by impunity, there is also the obnoxious issue of the cost of governance, or better still, mal-governance!

On this note, the pertinent observation has been made that in Nigeria, the cost of running government has increased over the years. In the process, government expenditure on public projects in vital sectors of the economy has decreased. What is being said here can be observed in the fact that the latest 2015 budget of N4.493 trillion has a recurrent component of 88 percent. In the process, a measly 12 percent has been earmarked for capital spending. Predictably, much of this recurrent expenditure will be used to service the rather gargantuan appetites of a greedy political class.

What readily comes to mind here are the stratospheric salaries/allowances of the National Assembly members. It was authoritatively revealed by the highly regarded Economist of London that our legislators are the highest paid in the world.  Meanwhile, Olisa Agbakogba, activist and human rights lawyer, has done a comparison of our legislators’ pay with those of 26 other countries. As usual, we are tops as regards the out-of-the-world salaries and allowances that our legislators are earning – sorry, getting!

Indeed, and in a more specific sense, BusinessDay in a December 2014 edition reported that Nigerian senators earned $2.1 million per annum, compared to legislators in the USA ($174,000); Brazil ($157,000); South Africa ($104,000); Kenya ($74,500) and Ghana ($46,000). Predictably, the country is not even getting any worth for these outlandish emoluments. This is in view of the shocking revelation that only 104 bills were passed by the legislators out of a total of 1,063.

One critical feature which is often ignored relates to the sheer illegality of these huge salaries. Again, we have Agbakogba to thank for the revelation that the outrageous salaries and allowances that are being paid to the legislators are not within the laws of the National Revenue, Fiscal and Mobilization Commission. And even in quantitative terms, there is also the dismal disclosure that around 25 percent of the budget is being used to service only 600 individuals. But even then, the binge does not end there. Members of the political class, across the party lines, have also gone ahead to award themselves pensions that are monumental in terms of their depth and reach. Again, one cannot but remember here the hundreds of special advisers and special assistants who litter the various corridors of power.

At the risk of sounding simplistic, these various shades of waste and mindless spending constitute an integral part of mal-governance. They certainly go a long way to explain why Nigerians are involved in tragic outcomes in diverse places like Indonesia, South Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. 

Kayode Soremekun