The recent directive by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on the reduction of the frequency of foreign and local trips along with an accompanying entourage of public officials has given Nigerians hope that the president will match words with action on this very important matter of governance.
The directive affects the offices of the president, vice president, first lady, ministers and heads of agencies. The directive provides that the president will be accompanied by a maximum of 20 persons on his trips while the vice president will have five persons. The first lady and wife of the vice president as well as ministers will be restricted to the same number as the vice president. Heads of agencies will have just two on their entourage.
The directive came against the background of reports that Nigeria spent a whopping sum of N2.7 billion to sponsor about 1,411 delegates to the United Nation’s annual climate summit in Dubai, which was held in November 2023. Before then, there was public outrage on the number of delegates from Nigeria that attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States of America, in which hundreds of millions of naira were spent.
While Nigerians welcome President Tinubu for taking this step in the effort to curb the ballooning cost of governance, mainly due to wastage and frivolous expenditure, much more needs to be done to have the desired effect.
Let us take as an example the 2024 budget, which signals the intentions and directions on government spending in the year.
Out of a budget of about N28 trillion, President Tinubu allocated N9.92 trillion, as non-debt recurrent expenditure. Of this, personnel costs alone take a huge chunk of N7.78 trillion. In all, 43 per cent of the budget will go on recurrent expenditure. Capital expenditure on the other hand was allocated N8.7 trillion, with infrastructure development getting a miserly N1.32 trillion. In effect, this shows that the government will continue to spend on personnel expenditure rather than on areas that create and generate wealth and productivity.
In matching his words with actions, President Tinubu must also reduce the size of his cabinet, which at over 50, is the largest recorded so far in the history of this country. Statutorily, the constitution states that every state of the federation must be represented in the cabinet. With 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, that means there should be at least 37 ministers. Allowing for exigencies and consideration for the large scope of work of some ministries, a maximum of 40 ministers in the federal cabinet suffices. But Tinubu’s number of ministers is not just over bloated, by implication, it adds so much to the cost of maintaining them in office.
The Executive arm of government is not alone in this spending binge. The National Assembly and state governments are also culpable. Surveys have shown that the total emoluments of a Nigerian senator exceed that of the President of the United States of America. On top of the salaries and allowances, the National Assembly routinely makes provisions for other expenditures. President Tinubu approved the purchase of brand new Prado SUVs for the members at a unit cost of N160 million totalling about N57 billion. Also, the National Assembly hiked the budget from N27.5 trillion to N28.7 trillion, with most of the added sums devoted to it.
At the state level, the extent of imprudence is even more mind-boggling. Governors spend public resources as if they are personally owned without accountability. It is no wonder that most states are almost insolvent as a result of heavy indebtedness.
It is ironic that while the country is in dire economic straits, our public officials are not reflecting the reality of the situation in their financial expenditures. Some of the trips President Tinubu attends abroad are hardly necessary and should be attended by low-level officials, thereby cutting costs. Also, the president should consider cutting down on the vehicles in his entourage and the number of aeroplanes in the presidential fleet which cost a lot to maintain. The same goes with the governors and other chief executives of government agencies. Other measures to be considered are for the National Assembly to review the constitutional provision on state representation at the federal cabinet and positions in government.
The burgeoning cost of governance has often been attributed to the presidential system of government which we operate and which is based on a three-tier structure – executive, legislature and Judiciary – all of which are independent. While this may be so, it does not call for the sort of imprudence with which we practice ours, especially as the country is undergoing severe economic difficulties.
So, this pronouncement must be matched by proper implementation. And the governors must follow suit if we are to build the country of our dreams.
