Cost of Governance: RMAFC Thumbs Up For Tinubu’s Directive But…
- Tasks States to embrace measure
- Insists on Orosanye report implementation
- Describes current situation as alarming, unsustainable
BY COBHAM NSA – Amid consistent calls on government to demonstrate sincerity in reducing the high cost of governance, Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Dr Muhammad Shehu Bello says it is kudos to President Bola Tinubu for approving immediate reduction in the size of official convoys for top government functionaries.
Accordingly, the Commission has urged the various State governments to immediately borrow a leaf from the President’s cost-cutting measure that affects Ministers and Chief Executives in his administration.
However, Dr Bello said to effectively reduce the overbearing high cost of governance in Nigeria, government must ensure immediate implementation of the Orosanye report as earlier intended by the administration.
This is as he also listed other crucial steps to include reducing the number of political appointees as recommended in RMAFC’s remuneration package for Political and Public Office Holders; and ensuring prudent spending of government funds at all levels
Dr Shehu said there is no denying that fact that the recent presidential directive would help cut down the high cost of governance, which over the years has hampered efforts at effectively providing infrastructure and social services as well as the consequent fall in investment, high level unemployment, and rising insecurity in the country.
He said no society can make meaningful progress unless it develops a competent and cost-effective management system capable of maximizing the nation’s resources to the benefit of all.
Shehu said the Commission has always canvassed reduction in the cost of governance as a way of preserving scarce resources for the sustainable development of the country while also proffering far-reaching suggestions and recommendations to government at all levels on the need to scale down on unnecessary expenditure and monitor expenses on developmental projects that would impact positively on the lives of the citizenry.
For Dr Shehu, the high cost of governance in Nigeria was due to the expensive nature o large bureaucracy, the duplication of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in addition to endemic corruption.
A statement by Maryam Umar Yusuf, RMAFC’s Head, Information and Public Relations quoted the Commission’s Chairman as saying; “Other factors were the high cost of public service delivery due to infrastructure failure, high security costs as a result of insurgencies, kidnappings, ethno-religious agitations, armed robbery, multiple salaries and severance allowances, extravagant activities and expenditures, high domestic and foreign debts, as well as weak enforcement institutions.”
Further decrying the high cost of governance in Nigeria as alarming and unsustainable, he said the development was unhealthy and continued to generate public concern and discourse due to its negative implications on investment, industrial expansion, infrastructure development, and the growth of the real sectors of the economy.
The statement added; “The realization that all three (3) arms of government are involved is even more disturbing.The Commission has at different fora made its position known on this matter through paper presentations. It is evident that Nigeria’s cost of governance is among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, which has significantly hindered the government’s ability to fulfill its primary responsibilities such as infrastructural development, providing quality healthcare, improving educational standards, etc.”
