Some small African countries have continued to give a flicker of hope for a continent crippled by profligacy and poor governance. The other day, it was Liberia that taught us how to conduct free and credible presidential elections. A few days ago, Malawian President, Lazarus Chakwera, suspended foreign trips for himself and cabinet members, saying any travel deemed absolutely necessary during this period must be submitted to his office for his personal authorization. He directed all ministers who were outside the country to return home, and said the suspension would be in place until March next year. President Chakwera also cut fuel entitlements for cabinet ministers and senior government officials by 50 per cent. According to him, this move is part of the tough measures to heal the country’s economy.
Like Nigeria, Malawi is bedevilled by economic crisis, including high food prices and shortage of fuel and foreign exchange. Many countries of the world are also going through hard times currently. What any prudent government does is to cut cost of governance in order to cope with the prevailing circumstances.
Last April, for instance, President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia directed Secretary to the Cabinet, Patrick Kangwa, to ensure the sale of luxury vehicles purchased for government officials during the previous administration. He also resisted an invoice of $1.8 million for the purchase of luxury cars for his entourage, saying pool cars used by his predecessor were still in good condition. He said his administration had vowed to curb extravagance among government officials and challenged senior government officials to be accountable to the electorate and stop globetrotting.
In Nigeria, the situation is quite different. Rather than cut cost of governance, our leaders have continued to exhibit extravagant lifestyle. While the masses suffer in great penury, many public officials live in opulence which they flaunt in the face of the citizens without shame.
Last October, the National Assembly leadership spent a whopping N57.6billion on Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for lawmakers. These are 2023 model Toyota Land Cruisers and 2023 Toyota Prado for 469 members of the National Assembly.
Ministers have since taken possession of their own luxury four-wheel drive vehicles. In the 2023 supplementary budget of N2.17 trillion, which the President has signed into law, the sum of N5bn was earmarked for Presidential Yacht, N1.5bn for purchase of vehicles for the office of the First Lady, N2.9bn for SUVs for the Presidential Villa, another N2.9bn to replace operational vehicles for the Presidency. Also, there is N4bn for the renovation of the residential quarters of the President and N2.5bn for the renovation of the vice-president’s residence. There is another N28bn for the State House and N12.5bn for the Presidential Air Fleet. All these are amid the resurgent borrowing which has nearly crippled our economy. As of June 2023, our public debt stock stood at N87.38 trillion. President Bola Tinubu has sought for a fresh $7.8bn and €100m loans.
Besides, the President revels in globetrotting in the name of either looking for investors or attending one conference or the other. He just returned from Germany where he travelled barely 48 hours after returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia and Guinea Bissau. Last September, he was at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York where he reportedly spent $507,384 or N390.6 million on hotel rooms alone in one week.
Meanwhile, the President appointed 48 ministers, the highest since the inception of this democracy in 1999. This is besides the hundreds of presidential and ministerial aides ranging from special advisers to senior special assistants and special assistants.
At the state level, the scenario is the same. Our various state governments reportedly spent N1.7 trillion on recurrent expenditures such as foreign trips, entertainment, foodstuff, aircraft maintenance, allowances and much more in the first nine months of 2023. Their borrowings also reportedly grew to N988 billion as of third quarter of 2023.
Last August, our governors spent three days in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, in the name of executive leadership retreat. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda’s great achievements in human development did not come by globetrotting. He achieved it by remaining focused, prudent and astute in the management of his country’s resources.
The monumental waste in many African countries is intolerable. Allocating resources to First Lady’s office, which is not constitutional, is mind-boggling. For misusing $100,000 of state money on lavish meals, Sara Netanyahu, the wife of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was sentenced to pay a fine of over $15,000 by a Jerusalem magistrate court in 2019. The sentencing was even after she agreed to a plea bargain. This is where you have strong institutions. We need to strengthen our institutions so as to put a stop to poor governance in Nigeria.
We commend the Malawian President for showing leadership by example. The central message from his recent action is that African leaders should sit down at home and do the work for which they were elected to do. Africa, especially Nigeria, is not supposed to be poor. But, due to mismanagement of our resources, many countries on the continent struggle to survive. This has to stop.