President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is on the right track but must pay close attention to rule of law and civil service reform in order to ensure more success for his administration.
A non-governmental organisation, Pristine Initiative for Social Development (PRISOD), which gave the advice, said Rule of Law is an essential ingredient of good governance and a true path to economic and social well-being of society.
In a statement signed by its Executive Secretary, Idowu Ogedengbe and Executive Director (Strategic Communications), Aare Fola Arogundade, Prisod recalled Tinubu’s address at the Island Club in Lagos in 2014.
“Tinubu, governor of Lagos State at that time, berated then President Olusegun Obasanjo for contempt of a judgement of the Supreme Court and flagrant disregard of rule of law. Tinubu had further admonished that ‘adherence to the rule of law is a moral burden on governments at all levels’, and disrespect for it puts democracy and good governance in jeopardy. We wish President Tinubu to walk his talk that ‘you can not be junketing around the world saying you’re looking for investors; that you want to create jobs and employment opportunities, you want people to come and invest in Nigeria. The investors will ask you, how can I come in? If I find anything wrong can I go to your judiciary? Will you obey the rule of law?’ Nothing underscores importance of rule of law than this and we certainly hope President Tinubu will remember his own admonition now that he is in the saddle.”
Calling for a holistic reform of the Federal and States civil service, PRISOD posited that the civil service is ‘a cesspit of corruption’ which must be cleaned inside out.
“Corruption is an impediment to national development. That corruption has stunted national development is stating the obvious. And we dare to say that the civil service is the fulcrum of this existential threat to our country. Fact is, not one Kobo can be stolen from our treasury without the active connivance of our public or civil servants: no minister or head of any Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA) can misappropriate one Kobo without the support of the bureaucrats.
“Ghost workers syndrome, ghost contracts, in-house contract racketeering, low productivity, incompetence, favoritism, are some of the evils bedeviling our public service. Unfortunately, regulatory and supervisory bodies emplaced to check these abuses are also complicit.”
PRISOD urged the President to fulfill his pledge to revisit the Orosanye report on reform of the civil service as a first step to cleaning this Augean stable.