In any constitutional democracy globally, sovereignty belongs to the people. Despite the fact that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) was imposed on the nation by the military, though originally fashioned by the nation’s eggheads in jurisprudence and related fields, it does affirm in Section 2 (a) and (b) as follows: “Sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government, through this Constitution, derives all its powers and authority; the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government…” The common experience, especially since 1999 when the nation embraced democratic governance, however, has been government’s hypocritical recognition of this all-important provision for the benefit of the government of the day and to the detriment of the people. The nature of security and welfare Nigerian people enjoy is a mockery. Talking about Boko Haram, kidnapping or the spate of violent robberies and other crimes will be going too far. But the contempt, security wise, which the government demonstrates on daily basis, can be gleaned from the number of security operatives, police or soldiers, attached to some serving or retired public officers and successful business elite, when millions of Nigerians and their communities or neighbourhoods are under-policed and unprotected.
The welfare of the people is also a mere passing refrain in the Constitution, indeed, a laughing stock when related to the truth about how much of the nation’s resources the government and bureaucracy guzzle (passed off as the cost of governance) year-in-yearout compared with what is left for the people. In 2012, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) implored the Federal Government to implement the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye-led presidential committee it raised to reform government agencies. In August of the same year, the presidential committee recommended the reduction of government’s statutory agencies from 263 to 161; abolition of 32 and merger of 53 others, to save cost. But the much that happened, unfortunately, was that President Goodluck Jonathan set up a committee headed by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, to review the recommendations and issue a White Paper. The result till date, however, is that the cost of governance and size of government have remained what they are: bloated and unsustainable.
The FG, like most of the states and local governments in the country, spend over 70 per cent of their annual budgets on servicing recurrent expenditure; in other words, paying the salaries, allowances and overhead costs of those running the government (politicians and the bureaucracy). But the NESG recommended that capital expenditure should be redefined as long-term development capital as opposed to fixed assets; and that a 50-50 target relationship between capital and recurrent expenditures has become absolutely necessary if Nigeria is committed to wriggling out of underdevelopment. Besides, before he was shoved out of office for being too vocal against his employers, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor (now the current Emir of Kano), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, implored the nation’s authorities to sincerely address the inherent problems created by the 1999 Constitution – problems Sanusi said were making it impossible for the country to develop.
“By definition, the President must appoint a minister from every state. So you have 36 ministers, and because of federal character, you also have one per geopolitical zone, so you have 42 ministers. We cannot develop if we continue to spend so much of our resources on government. Why does government exist? Government exists to serve the people. Now if the government is spending 70 per cent of its revenue on itself and leaving 30 per cent for the people, is that a sensible situation?’’ Sanusi wondered.
Nigeria parades 109 Senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives, and they are said to be the highest paid in the world. The realities on ground support their being paid sitting allowances. Not surprisingly too, the National Assembly rejected the abolition of the presidential system of government that sustains the bloated legislature in its just concluded constitutional review exercise that President Jonathan has refused to his assent. The lawmakers also resoundingly rejected the clamour for the abolition of the nation’s bicameral legislature, for very obvious reasons.
It is, however, a huge relief that some incoming members of NASS seem interested in having the cost of governance significantly reduced. How far they go will depend on the support they muster from their colleagues and the executive. But one truth the in-coming Muhammadu Buhari government must face is that the cost of governance has become ridiculous. Therefore, it requires a localised solution.
