FEATURES: Cutting cost of governance in Nigeria

Nigeria’s presidential system of government has been identified as one the most expensive in the world.

Political analysts and other stakeholders have described the system as over-bloated and unsustainable.

They attributed the high cost of governance in the country to corruption, impunity and duplicity of the functions of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as the jumbo pay of political office holders.

Prof. Isaac Albert of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, blamed the high cost of governance on the fact that Nigerian politicians were not practising true democracy.

Albert said many politicians ventured into politics because of their craving for material acquisition.

Sharing similar sentiments, Prof. Abdulhameed Ujo of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja, said presidential system, as practiced in Nigeria, did not conform to the vision of the designers of the system.

Ujo stressed that prudent leadership was vital to efforts to have a cost-effective presidential system of government, expressing dissatisfaction that the bulk of country’s budget was being spent on the remuneration of the members of the National Assembly.

But Dr Femi Sopade, a senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Osun State University, said the high cost of governance had nothing to do with a particular system of government.

He argued it was the orientation of the political class about governance, rather than political system, which determined the cost of running government.

Prof. Pat Utomi, a political economist, identified the high cost of governance as a major challenge facing the country and urged the government to make public life very simple.

He said such disposition would reduce the cost of governance, while making it easier for the citizens to feel and know about those governing them.

A Lagos-based lawyer, Osuala Nwagbara, advocated the reduction of ministries and ministers as well as salaries and allowances of National Assembly members.

Sharing a similar viewpoint, Funminiyi Afuye, a former Commissioner for Information in Ekiti, said “We have many irrelevant establishments that the government is wasting money on; these funds can be diverted to other areas that will be beneficial to the ordinary Nigerians.”

Wale Abde, Executive Secretary, Financial Markets Dealers Association, however, advised the government to take firm decisions on fuel subsidy and the need to rationalise the MDAs.

“There is need for government to revisit the Oransanye Report that advocated right-sizing and merging of ministries, departments and agencies to reduce duplication of roles,” he said.

However, Jimmy Adeniyi, the Head of Coaching Department, National Institute for Sports, underscored the need to re-introduce austerity measures and the Structural Adjustment Programme so as to reduce the cost of governance.

As part of efforts to reduce governance costs, Ganiu Olaogun, the Dean, School of Early Childhood and Primary Education, proposed appointment of ministers should be on part-time basis, just like what obtained in the U.S.

“The current cost of running government offices is over-bloated and should be reduced by paying policymakers only when they sit for policy making,” he said.

Nevertheless, Ezenwa Nwagwu, the Chairman, Partners for Electoral Reform, said government could reduce governance costs by bringing only relevant technocrats on-board, while reducing the number of aides.

Nwagwu like Lawrence Nze, an economist, called for the reduction of mega salaries of all public office holders, particularly those in the legislative and executive arms of government.

Similarly, Charles Nwodo, the National Chairman of the defunct Progressive Action Congress (PAC), said the jumbo pay of political office holders gulped over 45 per cent of the nation’s annual budget, stressing that it could cause economic stagnation for the country.

In her submission, Nancy Oghenekaro, a retired director in the federal civil service, said the wages and allowances of the country’s lawmakers and their aides were very “unrealistic”.

“The legislators are receiving mega salaries; Nigerian legislators are the highest paid in the world,” she said.

As a result, Dr Adegoke Ajila, a lecturer in the Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, berated members of the National Assembly for their “extravagance”.

Ajila noted the lawmakers consumed a large percentage of nation’s expenditure in the last 16 years.

“Sincerely, Nigerian people have been seriously short-changed by the lawmakers who, ironically, are elected to protect the people’s interests.”

“It is pathetic that while an average civil servant is crying over the implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage, lawmakers were raking in millions of naira every month with utter impunity.”

“It is important for the Buhari-administration to put a stop to this anomaly and distribute the nation’s wealth evenly and equitably for the good of all citizens,” Ajila said.

Echoing a similar viewpoint, Alhaji Saka Adejobi a chieftain of the APC in Osun, underscored the need for openness in the payment of the salaries and allowances of public office holders.

He stressed the salaries and other emoluments of public office holders, particularly members of the National Assembly, should no longer be secret, as part of calculated efforts to promote transparency in governance.

However, Dr Michael Oke, a lecturer at the Department of Banking and Finance, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the wages of all political office holders were made public.

Besides, Mayowa Fagboungbe, a political scientist, urged the government to review the pay of public office holders, particularly the lawmakers, because “it should not be to the detriment of the people they are serving”.

In addition, Dr Rex Olawoye, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Kwara, said the jumbo pay of public office holders, especially legislators, and their aides had generated a lot of tension and concern in the country’s political terrain.

He advocated a reduction of the pay and the abolition of the payment constituency allowances to legislators, arguing constituency allowances and funds earmarked for constituency projects had considerably depleted the nation’s resources.

“Nobody knows the exact amount which our senators, House of Representatives members or House of Assembly members earn in a month,” Olawoye said, adding legislators in the U.S., where Nigeria copied the presidential system from, operated on a part-time basis.

But Rep. Dapo Lam-Adesina, a new member of the House of Representatives, rejected such viewpoints, insisting that “there is nothing wrong with the salary of legislators that would warrant its reduction”.

Lam-Adesina and Akin Oke, the APC Chairman in Oyo State, argued if the salary of political office holders was pruned, the office would be less attractive to political office seekers.

All the same, Emmanuel Ekuwem, the Chief Executive Officer of Teledom Group, urged the Federal Government to adopt the use Information and Communications Technology to reduce the cost of governance.

Ekuwem, a former President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, said certain aspects of governance, which were hitherto done manually, ought to be automated.

He stressed the automation would help to reduce governance costs across the country, saying “automation of certain aspects of governance will ensure transparency, while increasing efficiency and productivity”.

All in all, the views on the cost of governance in Nigeria are varied and interesting but one thing is, nonetheless, clear: Tangible efforts should be made to reduce the cost of governance in the country in a pragmatic way.

FELIX NWADIOHA

NAN