The state of Nigeria’s treasury at the exit of the Goodluck Jonathan administration has been a subject of intense speculations in the past couple of weeks. Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari told Nigerians that he inherited a country with “virtually an empty treasury” from his predecessor. Speaking with State House correspondents, he explained that his administration could be seriously hampered by a debt overhang running into billions of dollars. He stopped short of revealing the exact amount of debt in question, and assured Nigerians that he would do his best to salvage the country from the brink of collapse. The report of the Transition Committee headed by Mallam Ahmed Joda, however, indicated that the Goodluck Jonathan government left behind a staggering N7 trillion deficit.
The former ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has swiftly refuted the president’s claim, describing it as an “excuse” for the present government not to fulfill its campaign promises. The former Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, added that the Jonathan administration left $30 billion in the treasury.
The claims and counter-claims on the state of the national treasury are far from over. There is, however, no doubt that the financial status of Nigeria and most of its component states is far from healthy. The Federal Government and many of the states are virtually insolvent, as they often have to go a-borrowing to meet their obligations, including payment of their workers’ salaries and pensions.
The poor financial situation of the country apparently worsened in the final months of the Jonathan government due to a combination of factors, among them, lack of prudent management of resources, outright fiscal recklessness and the plummeting oil prices in the international market. The net effect of these factors is the current cash crunch which has culminated in the state’s inability to meet their financial obligations.
It is, however, heartening that the President has promised to recover stolen funds. He should constantly keep this promise in view. He has also warned that the era of financial recklessness and immunity is over. He must remain alert to ensure that this percolates down to all public office holders in the country.
The president should be reminded that he will be judged by how he is able to turn things around for the good of the citizens. Playing the blame game may not quicken the quest for good governance. Nigeria could well be facing a national financial emergency at both federal and state levels. The situation calls for earnest efforts to restructure and diversify the economy, as well as adopt cost cutting measures such as the reduction of the present high cost of governance. These will help to make funds available for essential services and projects. In the maze of corruption and profligacy in which Nigeria found itself in the run up to the general elections, the national treasury is bound to be worse for it.
We urge the president to focus his attention on stemming the country’s drift to insolvency. With the Stephen Oronsaye report on the restructuring of the Public Service and the Joda Transition Committee report, he does not need to grope in the dark on what to do to bring about the ‘change’ he promised. These two reports are good guides on the problems plaguing different sectors of the economy and what can be done to solve them. Nigerians know that these problems exist, and they are not insurmountable.
Even if past administrations had turned deaf ears to the demands of the people that the problems should be addressed, President Buhari should realise that the people rely on him to solve them and bring about positive change in the country.
He should eschew the tendency to play to the gallery on the shortcomings of the past administration and remain focused on efforts to transform the country for the better. He cannot afford to fail.
