The Killing Cost Of Governance

As we have often said, the problem of Nigeria should not only be hinged on the subsidy of petroleum products, but rather the cost of governance which is running down the country which policy makers have refused to address.

When the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi pointed out this aberration to the National Assembly, he was criticised and almost run out of the place, but we all know it is true.

The President, Governors, local government chairmen, ministers and even commissioners in the states with their retinue of aides, not to talk about members of the National Assembly and the State Assemblies and their several aides, are sucking this country dry.

The Kwara State governor has over 500 aides who all draw salaries from the coffers of that state, while another governor in the South-south has a whopping 900 and something aides. Note that none of them earns less than N50,000 a month.

These are all aside the security votes and sundry expenses run by the state and Federal Government.

The cost of running Nigeria is one problem policy makers have refused to address. Those who have done so did it half-heartedly and the country is gradually grinding to a halt. Many don’t see it but we do. If only we could address this, Nigeria would be saving billions of naira that could be pumped into other productive ventures.

A governor with close to a thousand aides cannot honestly tell us his state’s problems will be solved in his four-year term because that state’s resources are being used in the course of governance instead of providing the much-needed infrastructure to jump-start the economy.

We agree that some of these aides are useful to the running of governance but the sheer number of them is a great cause for concern. It boggles the mind. If a member of the National Assembly earns more than what the American President takes home, then we know things are not right.

If one thinks about the number of ministers and how many aides each of them has, then we will surely know that out problems will never be solved until we address the issue.

If we think of how many states votes as much as a hundred million naira monthly for security, money which is usually not accounted for, then we will know what Nigeria’s problem is.

So much is being wasted on unproductive ventures that we fear the country may collapse under the weight of this burden. It is time to take another look at the issue of the salaries and allowances of the people that govern us.

We believe democracy can work, just like it is working in other climes but how many countries spend so much on governance to the detriment of other things? Democracy in other climes is not a full time job like it is in Nigeria. We have to address the issue of paying so much to so many and achieving so little.

After so many years of waste with so little on ground, we need to take another look at a constitution which allows so much money and allowances to be paid to those that begged to serve.

It is not too late to address this anomaly. The siren-blaring idle people have had enough and the National Assembly should move in to arrest the situation.