By Omoniyi Salaudeen

Concern has always been raised over the high cost of governance in Nigeria. Compared to other climes, the country’s current prohibitive cost of administration is said to be one of the highest in the world. This arises primarily from the multiplicity of MDAs with duplication of functions, over-bloated civil service structure, leading to ever-increasing wages and salaries, jumbo pay for legislators who often determine their salaries and allowances without recourse to the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission (RMFC), as well as an unregulated retinue of aides and assistants for political office holders especially the president and governors, among others.  

According to available reports, not less than 30 per cent of the country’s annual budget is expended on the payment of salaries of federal workers. In the last fiscal year, about ₦6.8 trillion out of the ₦16.3 trillion budget was said to have been spent on salaries and other personnel overheads.  This year’s figure is even more staggering as an estimated sum of N8.5 trillion is earmarked for the same purpose, taking a chunk of the N21.82 trillion budget currently running.

Thus, as concern continues to grow over the dwindling fortune of the economy due to the vagaries of the international market price of crude oil vis-à-vis foreign exchange earnings, stakeholders are of the view that this should be the best time for the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to muster the necessary political will to implement the recommendations of the Stephen Oronsaye’s report. 

In 2012, following years of unsuccessful attempts by successive governments to reduce the number of Federal Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) as a cost-cutting measure, former President Goodluck Jonathan set up the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, under the chairmanship of Steve Oronsaye.

The 800-page report identified 541 MDAs and recommended the abolition and merger of 102 government agencies and parastatals having overlapping functions. A few others were also listed to be self-funding. The list of institutions recommended for merger included NTA, FRCN and VON coming under the Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria (FBCN), NCC and NBC as Communication Regulatory Authority of Nigeria (CRAN), Code of Conduct Bureau, EFCC and ICPC as Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Information Technology Development Agency to be renamed the Ministry of Communication Technology, among others.

If these recommendations are faithfully implemented, there is a strong optimism among economic experts that the Federal Government may reap as much as an estimated N12 trillion annually from the realignment of the national workforce. Intriguingly, successive governments have always been paying lip service to the implementation. 

When the present administration came on board and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced some bold economic initiatives such as the withdrawal of subsidies, unification of the foreign exchange rates, and CBN reform, among others, expectations were high that he would address the cost of governance to be in tune with the current economic realities. 

However, the policy direction of the administration has not shown any indication that there may be a significant departure from the old order. Some public affairs analysts have even criticized the reforms as one-sided, noting that the necessary cuts have not been made on the side of the bureaucracy of government.

The origin of the big bureaucracy accounting for the slow growth of the nation’s economy can be traced back to 1970 when the Federal Government expanded the scope of the operations of the public service from core policy implementation to active participation in all sectors of the economy through the establishment of agencies, parastatals, and commissions. Some of these bodies were set up on an ad hoc basis to drive the socio-economic objectives of the Federal Government. But several years down the line, some of these agencies have transmuted into permanent institutions with overlapping functions in most cases. To compound the problem, successive administrations and the National Assembly have also gone further to create more of these bodies, leading to an ever-increasing escalation in the cost of governance.  

Questions are now being asked whether Nigeria’s economy can cope with the current over-bloated cabinet of President Bola Tinubu along with the endless appointment of political appointees as well as the emergence of new agencies. Just last week, the Federal Executive Council again approved the establishment of a humanitarian and poverty alleviation trust fund with $5 billion to be sourced annually to run the scheme as part of efforts to cushion the effects of economic hardship on vulnerable Nigerians.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, who made the disclosure, said the funds would go a long way in meeting any emergency situation in the country. According to her,  the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, and other ministers have been co-opted into the board to facilitate its smooth operations, especially fund-raising from donor organisations.

 “Today, the Council approved the establishment of the Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation Trust Fund, which will come under a governing board. And, of course, it will involve the Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, including other ministers that are relevant to the process. This is a flexible form of financing that is supposed to help Nigeria adequately respond to humanitarian crises and challenges, as well as adequately address the issue of poverty in Nigeria.

“This, of course, is a victory for the poor and, indeed, would bring help and succour, which the Renewed Hope Agenda stands for,” Edu said.

Though the initiative sounds laudable, this is duplication in disguise which is bound to add to the cost of governance. Since the advent of the present administration, the closest step the administration has taken towards the reduction in the cost of governance is the approval of the discontinuation of government funding of professional bodies and councils. The measure was, primarily, meant to free funds for the much-needed capital projects across the country.

The second initiative is the Presidential Advisory Council report which proposed the merger of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) into the Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS) to ensure an efficient collection of all direct and indirect taxes, as well as levies on behalf of the Federal Government. Some stakeholders see this recommendation as a sign of hope that the current administration might implement the Oronsaye report. Even then, there is criticism that the concern is more on revenue increase rather than the emphasis on cost reduction.

Varied opinions have been suggested as a way of addressing the prohibitive cost of governance. While some have even suggested a declaration of a state of emergency on the economy, others have called for a holistic overhaul of the governance structure.

Chief Chekwas Okorie, a respected opinion leader in the Southeast, in a telephone chat with Sunday Sun, described the situation as hopeless, calling for the convocation of a national conference to work out a new framework for a cost-effective governance structure.

His words: “It is a hopeless situation we have found ourselves. Those who we look upon to make some of these changes are beneficiaries of this high cost of governance.”

He noted the dilemma of President Tinubu on the issue of rationalization of civil service structure as recommended by the Orosanye report, adding that the implementation would be met with serious resistance from workers’ unions.

“To implement the Oronsanye Report on rationalization of the federal civil structure, you still have the labour to contend with. And the executive can also not confront the legislative arm because survival is the first human instinct. As I said, it is a hopeless situation. We can only lament what we have now without any respite, while the economy continues to suffer under that weight.

“The best thing this president can do for Nigeria and his name will go down as the father of modern Nigeria federalism is to facilitate the convocation of national conference.

“The way I see it is that the presidential system of government we are running is a very expensive one. But we can adjust the system to suit our own local purpose. The number of aides those at the helm of the affairs of the country have and are paying with taxpayers’ money is very unmanageable. We need to reduce the cost of maintaining a huge retinue of aides and assistants being kept by local government chairmen, the governors, House of Representatives members, Senators, and ministers to achieve a good result.

“When you see some of these public officers move on the road with so many vehicles in their convoy it is an obscene situation. All this can be cut down. But then, that initiative has to come by way of an executive bill to the National Assembly. Again, because the National Assembly members are also beneficiaries of this kind of expensive governance system, it may not enjoy their cooperation. Look at the kind of excuse they gave for the SUVs they recently bought for their members, you will see that those kinds of people lack the patriotism to legislate on the cost of governance.

“The only way out is to have a holistic review of our constitution not by those who are beneficiaries of it now, but by constitutional conference. We need a new constitution to specify some of these things in clear terms. Then, everybody will fall in line,” he said.

Prof Tayo Bello, Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State, in his own perspective, identified lack of political will as the bane of the nation’s stunted economy. 

“Let me state one thing: It is not the cost of governance per se that is our problem, it is the spending spree and corruption that have become part of our national life.

“Yes, Orasanye’s Committee recommended that some agencies should be merged, streamlined, and wiped out totally. But if you look at the direction of this government, it has not shown any commitment to that implementation. There is no political will to see to the implementation.

“If things continue this way, they won’t have money to pay salaries. Even the president has complained that the wage bill of federal civil servants is alarming. I think all they want to do is to fish out ghost workers,” he fumed.   

Similarly, a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Lagos chapter, Tunji Shelle, berated the present government for its lack of concern about the high cost of governance on the already distressed economy.

“I don’t see the present government deviating from the past. I don’t see any specific effort being made to deviate from the past or change the narrative. The majority of those we elected are looking for power not to serve the people. They struggle to acquire the power to oppress other people. They are highly insensitive to the plight of the people. People are dying, people are hungry, people are angry and yet they cannot see it,” he lamented.

He, therefore, suggested the adoption of unicameral legislature as a way of reducing the cost of governance.  

“All they have done is to buy cars for the legislators. It’s an embarrassing situation. The way out is to first and foremost adopt a unicameral legislature. We don’t need more than 300 people in the National Assembly. The current figure we have constitutes a drain on the purse of government. We need serious-minded people who are ready to work for the good of the country not just people who go there to go and collect cars. “Unfortunately, we have the wrong people running the affairs of the country,” he added.