OPINION: NEED FOR NIGERIAN GOVERNMENTS TO REVERSE PRACTICE OF SPENDING MORE PUBLIC FUNDS ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/GOVERNANCE AT EXPENSE OF BASIC INFRASTRUCTURAL INVESTMENTS

Truth be told, the cost of governance and the amount of funds daily expended as recurrent expenditure in public administration across all levels of Government in Nigeria, is totally unacceptable. In fact, it is the most expensive in any place of the world, and has become the channel through which public funds that would have been invested in providing needed infrastructure, are wasted. This is the bane of Nigeria’s development. It is really sad to note that in the last 20 years or so, Nigerian Governments at all levels have expended public funds more on public administration/governance than they have on needed basic infrastructure. Without mincing words, we can conclusively say that about 90% of public funds are yearly spent by Nigerian Governments at the Federal, State and Local Council levels on public administration/governance. Leaving the remaining 10% to be scantly and pretentiously spent on infrastructural projects. This has left a vacuum on the Nigerian economy – making Nigeria to become a country that is consumption-driven than being productive-driven.

All that the Nigerian Governments are doing in the last two decades of our democracy, is to keep increasing the size and structure of their public administration/governance budgetary allocation and maintenance. Every now and then, we see the spring up of Government Departments, Agencies, Commissions, Committees, etc., with more Offices filled with personnel that are there practically doing nothing, other than to receive salaries and bonuses every month and enjoy other fringe benefits of such Offices in Government coffers. All they know how to do well is to constantly hold meetings, seminars, workshops, conferences and summits, which of course cost fortunes to organize every time.

There is no day you will tune to the television/cable or read in the daily tabloids, that you will not see such ‘talk show’ gatherings organized with public funds, where all they do is to talk, talk, talk, and more “sugar coated talks”. But at the end of the day, we still have not had anything concrete to show forth in addressing the myriads of developmental problems facing us as a nation. Nigeria has been turned into a nation of ‘organized talk shows’ – where more is daily said than actually done to transform the economy in the interest of the masses.

The Executive arm, across all levels of the Nigerian Government, and also those at the Legislative arm (both Federal and State levels), are the frontrunners, the worse set of public officers and those spearheading this wastage of our national collective public wealth, on public administration/governance recurrent expenditure. It is only in Nigeria that you would have and see One single Government Official (be it as a Senator/House of Representatives member/House of Assembly member, Minister, Commissioner, Local Government Council Chairman, Appointee, etc.), with several ‘attaches’, ‘hangers-on’ and retinue of officials attached to them as SAs, SSAs, PAs, SPAs, etc. with no clearly defined roles and functions. Some of them at the State and Federal levels, are said to have at least 200 to 300 Aides attached to one individual’s Office. Hence, all we see around us are ‘government workers’ who sit comfortably in Government Offices doing practically nothing to contribute to the growth of the economy. Most of them sit idle in the offices reading newspapers, browsing the internet and reading gossip blogs, etc. And they get paid salaries every month, plus bonuses and other fringe benefits. They yearly spend so much money to run and maintain government offices, without investing on providing needed infrastructure in the country. How on earth can such a country develop?

Few days ago, I wrote a piece in which I noted that the Government of the day at all levels, do not necessarily lack good Economic Teams. And I said that, even if those in Government at the Federal and State levels would bring in all the economic experts in the world, or employ all the Charles Soludos, Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealas, Lamido Sanusis, Patrick Utomis, Evelyn Oputus, Christopher Orubus, etc. to support President Muhammadu Buhari, or any of the State Governors, all of their efforts/inputs/advice and actions will amount to nothing if the said Governments do not invest heavily on needed infrastructure. No matter the assembling of Economic Experts, there will not be any significant improvement in the nation’s economy because the country has not invested what is required to boost its infrastructural base and foundation.

As we write this, the Nigerian Government is at it again with its 25th Nigerian Economic Summit, which was focused on “Shifting Gears in Nigeria by 2050”. And as expected, so much mind-blowing economic theories, practices and policies that should be adopted were reeled out by the different speakers at the said summit. But like we have said before, there is no amount of economic summits, economic experts gatherings to discuss on what should be done to transform the fortunes and living standards of Nigerians, if the Government of the day and even those to come, do not muster the ‘Will’ to reverse the observed huge spending on public administration/governance maintenance, and start investing heavily on the provision of basic infrastructure across the country, it will amount to nothing. With evident facts that Nigerian population is growing by the day, and over 94.4 million Nigerians are now living in extreme poverty, the Nigerian Government across all levels should realize that unless they start doing things differently, soon, the “economic crises” that will take place will swallow and bury the entire country. They urgently need to start doing what other nations have done to lift their citizenry out of poverty. Besides, the more people are out of poverty, the more revenue they will have in terms of revenue.

The International Oil Companies (IOCs) are able to survive and thrive to a large extent in Nigeria simply because they have adopted the practice of investing heavily in providing the basic facility infrastructure that would aid and stimulate the operations growth, and they also have a ‘maintenance culture’ to keep this going. From investments on having a steady power supply through privately built gas turbines, to creating a system that works in taking care of the housing needs, transport needs, health needs, education needs, etc. of their staff/personnel. They even have their own private aerodromes and airstrips. What the IOCs have done to stay in business and compete globally, is exactly what the Nigerian Governments across all levels needs to do for the Nigerian citizenry and for the country to become relevant in the global future.

Name all the places today that Nigerians and other foreigners like trooping into; Dubai, London, New York, Paris, Singapore, Manchester, Birmingham, Milan, Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Edmonton, Dallas, etc., they are all developed because they started with having the required infrastructural foundation on ground, and every other thing/development took shape on that foundation. That is exactly what we need in Nigeria. No country’s economy can attain needed height when it is generator-driven. No country can develop without having the basic infrastructure for such economic growth to take place. While other countries are daily investing heavily on infrastructure, the Nigerian Government at all levels are busy spending more funds on administration/governance. We liken Nigerian political leaders to a farmer that has a vast arable farm land, who would clear the said farm land but will not plant any seed on it. Yet the farmer expects to have a bountiful harvest. How is that possible?

The Dubai that we all talk about today, invested heavily on its infrastructure and not on public administration/governance recurrent expenditure like we see in Nigeria. Dubai is today rated as one of the most beautiful cities in the world and one of the most visited cities for shopping and tourism. Dubai has been transformed into one of the world’s leading tourist destinations with megastructures that surpass human imagination. All of this was borne out of the vision of its current ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who like his predecessor, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, realized that Dubai’s oil wells will start drying up by 2016. So, he initiated a long-term plan to save his country from the onset, by using every money from the oil wealth to develop its infrastructure to transform Dubai as the world’s number one luxurious tourist destination. Today, Dubai has steady power supply; well-connected network of roads; security assurance; top world-class horse race and golf courses; built one of the world’s tallest building known as the Burg Khalifa; one of the world’s biggest shopping mall; the world’s biggest man-made Islands which include Palm Jumeirah (which became a city built outside the sea and one of the visible things from Outer space), Deira Island and Palm Jebel Ali, all on the coast of Dubai; first In-door skiing Hill; world-destination for high-end goods like gold and all kinds of jewelries; One of the world’s futuristic technical Port; and so many other mega projects/structures, all of which have made Dubai a tourist destination for the rich and mighty, with over 20 million tourists visit every year. They did not just invest heavily on infrastructure; they have also maintained a culture of improving on what they already have on ground.

The London we know today is basically known for its infrastructure. According to Wikipedia, London is considered to be one of the world’s most important global cities, and has been termed the world’s most powerful, most desirable, most influential, most visited, most expensive, innovative, sustainable, most investment friendly, and most popular for work city in the world. London exerts a considerable impact upon the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transportation industries. London ranks 26 out of 300 major cities for economic performance. It is one of the largest financial centres and has either the fifth or sixth largest metropolitan area GDP. It is the most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the busiest city airport system as measured by passenger traffic. It is the leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra-high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Then there is the London Underground (also known simply as the Underground, or by its nickname the Tube), which is a public rapid transit system serving London, England and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the UK. The Underground has its origins in the Metropolitan Railway, the world’s first underground passenger railway which dates far back as 1863.

We would get similar feedbacks when we look at other well-visited known cities across the world like Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, Atlanta, Birmingham, Manchester, Dallas, Miami, Singapore, etc. These are places where their Governments have invested/spent heavily on addressing their infrastructural needs, which became the foundation upon which every other thing that have made them popular, were built on/from. And that is why today, Nigerians and many other foreigners travel to these places for their healthcare, education, tourism/holiday visits, business and shopping needs. The Government of these cities understand the importance of having the needed infrastructure for economic growth to thrive, as against spending more on public administration/governance.

Take Nebraska in the US for instance, which is not one of the biggest states in America, but its budget this year alone, is $12Billion (over N3Trillion). But here is the interesting part, Nebraska is the only state in the United States whose legislature is unicameral and officially nonpartisan. They have only 49 Legislators, and each of the lawmaker is paid $12,000 (N3.6m), and they are on part-time basis. That means less than $600,000 (N183million), is what they use to maintain the entire legislative House. Nobody buys them cars or anything. But Nebraska’s budget is three times the expended budget of the 11 States which makes up the entire North East and South East of Nigeria. Yet, this 11 States in Nigeria has over 270 House members, which cost over N16Billion to maintain annually – doing what Nebraska is doing for N183m. That is just one example of the sort of humongous amount of public funds our Nigerian Government expend to maintain themselves in the name of Government work, as against investing on basic infrastructure provision. The situation is even worse when we compare the huge amount of funds expended monthly and annually to maintain Nigeria’s National Assembly, as against what is expended in the area of infrastructure.

A country like Nigeria with vast natural resources and human capital, cannot continue on its current destructive path and hope that things will automatically change overnight. That is nothing but wishful thinking and day dreaming. How can a country like Nigeria with huge gas deposits that could transform its energy needs if the needed gas infrastructure is there, still be flaring gas? How can a country like Nigeria with its vast wealth and resources, cannot boast of having one single International Airport that is built with state-of-the-arts technology and ambiance to meet international standards? London alone has five airports. The Heathrow airport has 5 terminals and they are currently building the 6th terminal. As a country, we cannot boast of having good road networks; no good healthcare facilities that are affordable and accessible to the populace; no Tube (underground) Stations or a functional and reliable railway system; no steady and reliable power supply; to top it all – no assured security. How on earth would any foreign and domestic investor, be attracted or desirous to want to invest on anything in the country, which would bring about employment opportunities, if this has been the situation in the country for ages?

The most annoying and frightening part is that the deplorable situation in the country is getting worse by the day. And as noted already, the economy is going worse under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. And this is simply because he is not investing as he ought to on infrastructure, and his government keeps on paying people that are doing nothing. Just the same way it has been right from 1999 till date. It is painful that our leaders and their political appointees at all levels of government are uneducated, even though they have bunch of degrees and higher diplomas. Like we said, President Buhari does not lack an Economic Team of experts. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of my State – Delta State, does not lack an Economic Team of experts. If anything, they have more than enough economic advisers/experts to receive counsel from. What these Governments lack is the will to invest heavily on infrastructural development. And they have kept on spending more public funds to maintain a gluttonous public administration with their tentacles/attaches/entourage/hangers-on/retinue of aides. Until this narrative is changed, Nigeria will continue to take one step forward and three steps backward in its developmental strides. Let it be known that it is only the provision of needed basic infrastructure in the country that will ‘stimulate’ the economy for tremendous growth.

Zik Gbemre

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)

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