Today, many civil servants will greet the New Year with despair rather than hope. This is because of the scandalous failure of the Federal Government and many state governors to pay salaries of workers for several months. Last week, the Vice-President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Issa Aremu, accused 22 governors of impoverishing workers in their states by owing them salaries. It was also reported that the Federal Government was owing no fewer than 70,000 civil servants in 30 Ministries, Departments and Agencies three months’ salaries.This is blatant cruelty coming from the President and governors, whose ostentatious lifestyles are so appalling. The NLC should take all reasonable steps to ensure that these hard-hearted rulers pay civil servants all outstanding salaries and wages without delay.
Aremu is right to describe the governors’ action as wage theft, wage robbery and an economic crime. According to him, the Nigerian labour law says “‘thou shall pay the worker as and when due.’ In fact, by the 22nd of every month, you must have paid the workers fully.” The Secretary-General of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Alade Lawal, who cried out on behalf of federal workers, claimed that about eight MDAs owed workers their salaries from October. “The number rose to 11 in November and in December, it hit 30, including departments and agencies.” But the Federal Government said it was a false alarm. A statement from the Finance Ministry says, “It is absolutely untrue that government has not been able to pay thousands of civil servants their October and November salaries.”
This newspaper reported that civil servants in states like Osun, Oyo, Benue, Plateau and Abia had a bleak Christmas. In Kogi State, LG workers are said to have gone without salaries for months, so also some local councils in oil-rich Akwa Ibom State. In Benue and Abia states, teachers are being owed months in salary arrears. The story is similar in Ondo, Edo and Ekiti states, where many public workers marked Christmas in gloom because of salary delays. As if owing workers’ salaries is not bad enough, some states also owe pensioners their stipends. Yet, recently, 21 governors, under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party, donated N1.05 billion – at N50 million per state – to the campaign fund of President Goodluck Jonathan for his 2015 re-election bid in defiance of the law.
While they are celebrating in opulence with their families, many Nigerian workers are hungry –and angry. Governors, who claim to have no resources to pay workers, hire many commissioners and aides, paying them generously, in spite of the odds. These aides in turn hire their own coterie of hangers-on.
One of the talking points of the Fourth Republic since 1999 has been the voracious capacity of the Presidency, governors and National Assembly to reward themselves with outrageously high remuneration, though many states are complaining that they cannot pay the N18,000 minimum monthly wage to workers. For the governors to make the people buy into their call for sacrifice, they have to lead by example: cut down seriously on the cost of running government.
How many ministers (commissioners) did the Western Region – initially larger than the present Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti states – government have under Obafemi Awolowo as premier? Indeed, the Northern Region, which was made up of the present 19 states, had only a four-man cabinet with portfolios in agriculture, animal health and forestry, Northern Cameroons and attorney-general under Ahmadu Bello as premier between 1958 and 1962.
Britain, which is the world’s sixth largest economy, runs with 20 ministers. It is not much different in the United States, the world’s second largest economy by Gross Domestic Product, which has just 15 full cabinet members. Conversely, many states in Nigeria, which are far from being viable, and are fractions of the old regions, are having as many as 22 to 26 commissioners; and countless number of special advisers, senior special assistants and special assistants. This is irresponsible and uncalled for. Yet, President Goodluck Jonathan alone is said to have about 133 special aides by some estimates.
The era of big government is over. A lean government that is focused will achieve so much more than ill-motivated civil servants at the three tiers of government. It bears restating that Nigeria is at a critical juncture, where the fear of economic crisis is real. The signs are evident already with crude oil trading for around $60 per barrel, compared to an all-time high of $147pb just recently. According to the Federal Budget Office, Nigeria recorded a shortfall of N329 billion in non-oil revenue in the first six months of 2014. Between June and October, the projected revenue from oil declined by N132.5 billion.
What is to be done? Surviving the coming economic storm demands that the cost of running government is trimmed down considerably at all levels. Last year, Peter Obi, the immediate past Anambra State governor, lamented that “if you see the cost of governance in this country, you will feel very sad. If you go round the country, you see corruption everywhere by everybody. When you talk about values, where does it start from?” The President, the governors and other top government functionaries should lead by example, sacrificing the outlandish perks they enjoy, and concentrate their attention on how to build infrastructure, develop education and enhance social service delivery that will engender rapid inclusive economic growth. They should reduce their cabinet and number of aides.
It is cheap, primitive and patronising for governors to equate distribution of food items to the people at festive occasions with good governance. With elections imminent, the people should be wise to vote for credible leaders who will address their needs. The NLC must lay down the marker and fight for the welfare of Nigerian workers.
