6th December, 2012
The recommendation by Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Malam Lamido Sanusi, that 50 per cent of federal civil servants must be sacked to move Nigeria forward is misguided and must be condemned by all.
Sanusi, during a presentation at the Second Annual Capital Market Committee Retreat in Warri, Delta State, over a week ago, disclosed that Nigeria currently spends 70 per cent of its earnings on salaries and entitlements of civil servants.
He explained that sacking 50 percent of federal workforce would free up capital for infrastructure development in the country and boost the economy.
According to Sanusi, Nigeria will remain underdeveloped if only 30 percent of its revenue is allocated for development and 70 percent is used to cater for less than a million civil servants and lawmakers in a country of 167 million people.
Nigeria needs to operate a less expensive system of government that would reduce overhead costs, Sanusi argued in his recommendations.
He called for the reduction of the number of lawmakers in the country and faulted wastage of funds on the maintenance of 774 local government council chairmen and their aides.
We agree with Sanusi that governance in Nigeria is expensive and needs to be reduced, but sacking 50 percent of civil servants will lead to untold hardship that could consume the entire country.
We believe that sacking people because the economy is bad is not the solution to the problems facing the country. We insist that the problem of Nigeria is embriddled corruption.
A huge chunk of the money claimed to be paid to civil servants every month actually goes to ghost workers included in the salary list by top government officials.
A probe report of Nigeria’s civil service last year showed that many people who receive salary every month do not exist.
We also believe that a big part of the capital expenditure funds is stolen by corrupt government officials.
As a result, Nigeria continues to have poor infrastructure and unemployment continues to climb as investors continue to run away.
We know that even in the developed world Sanusi is referring to, the unemployed continue to receive weekly allowances.
Is Nigeria ready to pay its unemployed once hundreds of thousands are rendered jobless?
Sanusi’s call will lead to serious crisis that may bring down the current administration.
What we need to do it to tackle corruption in government to revive our economy and develop our infrastructure.
Until that is done, Nigeria will continue to remain underdeveloped and enemies of the country will continue to make misguided recommendations.