‘N50bn presidential spend, N72bn security votes for governors immoral’

The incoming President should resolve Nigeria’s most important challenge which is disorder, indiscipline, lack of peace and instability. Think of a man who has four wives and many children and has not sorted out the peace and stability of his home, even if he is a billionaire, he won’t have peace. Nigeria’s problem is not about its economic resources or its finances; it is about lack of peace. This lack of peace has a history in the shape of three political constitutions we have operated. The colonial constitution, which was not in the interest of Nigeria; the civil constitution, which lasted between 1960 and 1966 and didn’t serve the interest of Nigerians; and the military constitutions designed to empower the various heads of state but didn’t have the interest of Nigerians at heart. The makers of the constitutions were ruling for the sake of themselves and their constituencies. Therefore, there wasn’t any peace and that was why the pro-democracy movement rose to challenge and confronted them.

Then, we had the Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan’s attempts to find peace in Nigeria. The National Conferences we have had were about peace and stability in Nigeria. That is why the biggest power the President enjoys is the power given by Section 5 to order the state of things in Nigeria, for the peace, order and good governance of the country. But, unfortunately, the National Conference process starting from Obasanjo, who had a third term agenda, was not genuine and the Jonathan process, which I was a party to, is incomplete. As I speak, we don’t have political compass for Nigeria. So, we are a mass of people with various cleavages and fault lines – religious, ethnic, linguistic – roaming in the vast territorial space called Nigeria, which Chief Obafemi Awolowo referred to as a geographical expression.

We have not condescended Nigeria into a national spirit which we can say for the love of country. Unless, this is tackled, we are heading nowhere yet. This is why I have written the president-elect to be aware of the booby-traps. He has a historic moment to deal with lack of constitutional order. This is the major issue that Buhari must resolve. Once you are building a house and your architect gives you a design, building becomes easier. At the moment, Nigeria lacks the constitutional architecture that can drive the release of economic energy. If we don’t do this, we can’t go anywhere.

The second most important issue is that Buhari must pay attention to is corruption. All governments of Nigeria have paid lip-service to the issue of corruption. Buhari has now presented himself as a person and he has got a groundswell of support from Nigerians across the divides to tackle corruption. So, he has to be held to account for all the political promises he made. He should deal with the unconstitutional salaries of the National Assembly members. The Revenue Mobilization Allocation & Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) sets salaries, but the National Assembly refused to follow it. The money Nigerian lawmakers get constitutes about 25 percent of our national budget. Why wouldn’t I want to go to the National Assembly, if being a member of the House of Representatives I can get N600 million a year. Why do you think they kill themselves? Some of them in the other side of the National Assembly get as much as N1billion a year. So, the lawmaker’s interest is not to go and make or pass laws, but because of the money that is there. That is also why they perform below average.

I see this development as a corrupt practice and that is another most important thing Buhari must confront. The National Assembly must be brought to book. They must be made to conform with the constitution.

The government has a security votes for governors that amounts to more than N2trillion which is half of our entire national budget. So, you can see that the lifestyle has contributed to the fight to finish for political powers. If as a governor I have N2billion every month, that I don’t account to anybody, in this case permitted by law, you can see why people line up to die for that job; not for the love of country but for the love of pocket. So, this is the task for the president-elect. It’s not rocket science. It’s is very easy to achieve this in this country. The Presidential Villa spends about N50billion every year, and everybody who goes there feels entitled to a meal. Why should you be entitled to a meal? You think if you go to the White House to see Obama and you expect that after a meeting he will say Ok, go to the kitchen and have a meal. All of that has to stop. It is a culture that doesn’t promote accountability. Those are the things President Buhari will have to do differently; otherwise, it will be business as usual. I think we are tired of the ugly past. I think we are tired of election promises, because this time, we have a new President who has come to office on the major campaign slogan of incorruptibility and public accountability. So, it’s our duty as citizens to speak out and for the media to hold him to account. In the first 30 days, we want to see results.

Nigeria reminds me of the great depression in the US, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the President. The country had collapsed and people were despondent. Nigeria has that same parallel. So, what Roosevelt did is what I hope Buhari will do. He should have a massive plan of action which he executes. Having being elected President, he must have come with a clear idea of who and who will assist him develop the plan. I have raised some issues which I feel are relevant for Buhari to address in the letter I wrote him. But if he doesn’t tackle the issue of national order and anti-corruption framework, the other issues such as the economic matters, financial services sector, aviation/space, legal/justice sector and housing/mortgage will fail.

The President-elect can build a new national order by recording our diversity and managing it in an inclusive process that would lead to an agreed constitution by all Nigerians. The President-elect must refrain from calling yet another wasteful national conference. All that is needed is a comprehensive review of the reports of the national conferences. It will be very difficult but not impossible task. The key in arriving at a new constitution is in isolating what Nigerians will agree to immediately. I believe Nigerians will accept the need for a balanced federation. We must strive for a balanced federation and decentralisation of powers from federal to state government. The centre is too strong and can pass responsibility out of the 98 items of power under its executive control, to the states. This will balance up the federation recommended that a graduated process of constitutional amendments should be introduced to replace failed holistic attempts to write new constitutions in one fell swoop. Creating a new national order will be very difficult but not an impossible task. The effect of a national order will be stabilisation and national rebirth.