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From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
A coalition of civil society in Osun State, The Osun Masterminds (TOM), has called on President Bola Tinubu to take urgent step at making political office less financially attractive.
The group lauded President Tinubu’s directive to implement Orosanye’s report, and called for a drastic reduction of the political appointees as well as rewards for political office.
The group at its monthly address in Osogbo, Osun State, on Tuesday, posited that it is not enough to reduce the cost of governance through the optimization of the civil service, but urgent steps must be taken to make the political office less financially attractive.
The Executive Director of TOM, Prof Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, who spoke at a press conference, said “As we reduce government expenditure through reduction of the Civil Service, we must also reduce government expenditure through drastic reduction of the population of political appointees.
“There are more than 3,000 Legislative Aides in the National Assembly alone, for example. We already have too many members in the National Assembly, the number of Aides they have then makes it even worse.
“We must take this initiative of reducing the cost of governance further by merging Ministries to reduce the number of Ministers, drastically reducing the number of Aides of political appointees and elected office holders, reducing the number of Special Advisers and Senior Special Assistants to Mr. President, reducing the population of Statutory Boards and lastly, reduce drastically the financial reward for political office.
“When we make the political office less financially attractive, we all will go back to the drawing board as a Nation and get productive. This is the only way we can grow,” the group said.
On the continuous closure of the court in Osun, the group called for immediate opening of the court, saying “whatever politics is being played behind the curtains must stop immediately so we can allow this critical arm of government perform its functions.”
For the umpteenth time, TOM has condemned the alleged diversion of N2 billion palliative fund received by Osun from the federal government, querying what governor Ademola Adeleke plans to do to reduce the suffering of the people.
“We are also asking the Osun state government, what it is doing with the allocation windfall it is receiving from the Federal Government. When times are easier, the government should be seen taking deliberate steps to plan for tough days. What are we doing with the increased figures we receive today?
The group, however, advised the federal government to make temporary and permanent plans that may include the importation of food (starting from the reopening of our borders) in the short term and massive investment in local food production, as a long-term measure to arrest the skyrocketing price of commodities.
