THE issue of over-bloated Federal Executive Council has been a recurring decimal in Nigeria’s governance space. Every administration has suffered this malaise. Even the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration which came with the toga of frugality fell into the same loop. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is barely four months in office is already being afflicted with the virus, and there are concerns already that a bogus bureaucracy at a period the economy is walking down the slope might lead to a fatal fall.
Already, the administration has inaugurated 48 cabinet-rank ministers and proposed nomination to the National Assembly for two more. If endorsed, it would be 50 in the Federal Executive Council, a motley crowd. The ministers will be accorded full complements of the office including salaries, wages, cars, aides etc. The ministries will make provision for offices, equipment and stationeries. More permanent secretaries will have to be deployed with accompanying bureaucratic attachments. All these are going to add to the already burdensome recurrent expenditure which stands at more than 75% of the national budget.
Understandably some new ministries have been established from areas of our economy that until now were not focused on. Our concern therefore is not so much about the specifications because some of the new ministries have become necessary at this time, but it is more about the current state of the country’s economic health which is too fragile to carry additional burden. Some of the ministries could have been merged and still made to function as departments or agencies, to reduce the burden at the top. The country is passing through a very critical alley and demands all the frugality and sacrifice that can be mustered.
The country’s economy has come under more severe stress following the introduction of three key policies in the last ten months: the currency redesign, the removal of petrol subsidy and the floating of the Naira. Although the policies have their long-term benefits, they have sent the economy into an initial tailspin. The currency swap and the accompanying squeeze almost wiped off the base of the economy, seriously affecting businesses that depend on daily cash flow and placing heavy burdens on big businesses.
With a struggling economy like this, the president must be conscious of the implications and run a very lean Federal cabinet instead of the jumbo 50-minister Federal Executive Council that is emerging. Even though the constitution requires that every state and the Federal Capital Territory should have at least a minister each (and the same goes for permanent secretaries), it would ordinarily have been expected that the situation would be managed to reflect the current realities of our national economy.
Even with the constitutional requirement, which was done in good faith, and given the current state of the country, Mr. President did not need more than 37 ministers: one per state and the Federal Capital Territory. He did not need ministers of state, especially with a coterie of special advisers and assistants both at the Presidency and the ministries, as well as directors-general and commissioners in some departments and agencies.
We are not oblivious to the practice of settling political debts after elections, but that can be done through other appointments in the boards and parastatals, not necessarily as ministers that come with heavy dents on the treasury. The Federal Government should live by example and drastically cut down on the cost of governance. Apart from the cost of maintaining a bogus bureaucracy, the size creates more lines of responsibilities and reporting which might slow down the system and affect efficiency and quick returns. The situation in the country today cannot indulge unnecessary bureaucratic tendencies. It’s like going on a marathon race, the slimmer the size the better for speed and stamina.
The President might have his reasons for wanting to work with a crowd in the cabinet, but in tandem with economic realities, our position is that efforts should be made to reflect the state of our national health and wealth in all that he sets out to do. Political leaders need to show some level of responsibility in the management of scarce resources, and leaders need to build social capital around the people, generate understanding and gain support for critical policies that might be painful but which are in the national interest.
The government must urgently do something about the equally over-bloated public service. The Nigerian public service is obviously all size and nothing more. Productivity level is almost non-existent, but it takes not less than three-quarters of the budgeted revenue of government at the federal level. It is also very likely that the large size is not real, and some recent developments have pointed in the direction of a ghost enclave where spirits pick salaries and wages for work they did not do.
It is our considered opinion that the government should take the issue of transparency and accountability very seriously. Nigeria has not been lacking in ideas and some policies of government might be well-intentioned, but there seems to be a scarcity of trust and confidence, given previous experiences. That is why this government must beat a new track, build bridges and connect with the people through transparent and accountable deeds.
The political elite, particularly those running the government, have been urging citizens to make sacrifices for the sake of the economy and the country, but they do not seem to be taking the prescription themselves. If such calls are to go down well with the citizens it behoves the leadership to live by example, the political elite should not just show the right direction but walk it by making some sacrifices and with utmost sincerity.
