Unfazed by their shrinking treasuries and the seething mass of unpaid public sector workers, our state governors have continued to build extra large cabinets and retinue of aides. While they lament paucity of funds to meet basic needs and forever importune the Federal Government for ever more bailout, they curiously see no need to prune their large armies of political appointees. To save public governance from collapse, stakeholders should take a firm stand to compel the imprudent, arrogant governors to behave responsibly.
Appointing bloated cabinets at this austere time is provocative. It suggests that our governors hold the people in contempt despite their hypocritical public posturing. According to their own lamentations, funds accruing from the Federation Account have fallen by as much as 60 per cent in the last few months as crude oil revenue receipts nosedive and debts mount. In August, they secured President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval for N713.7 billion as bailout, drawn from dividends from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company and low interest credit from the Central Bank of Nigeria, primarily to pay a backlog of salaries that had grown to as high as nine months in some states.
Like the central government, many cannot meet contractors’ obligations or implement capital projects. About 22 states collectively owed the West African Examinations Council N2 billion as registration fees of their candidates for the May/June Senior Secondary School Certificate examinations. In August, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo stated that the 36 states owed commercial banks N685 billion, “making it difficult for them to meet their statutory obligations.” Combined, the domestic debt of the states stood at N1.69 trillion as of June 30, according to the Debt Management Office.
Given the daunting reality, how will Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State explain his appointment of 112 special advisers and senior special assistants and 20 commissioners? Here is a state that projected to raise only N4.5 billion of its N97.3 billion 2015 budget proposal as internally generated revenue, with the rest, including an uncertain N25 billion refund, expected from allocations from the Federation Account. In Delta State, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has hired 25 commissioners and over 1,000 aides. The insensitivity and frivolity cut across party lines. So, Governor Ibrahim Shettima has empanelled 21 commissioners and 20 advisers. In Adamawa, notorious for waste and poor governance, Governor Bindow Jibrilla has 35 special advisers and 22 commissioners, while Ogun’s Ibikunle Amosun has 18 commissioners and 20 special advisers, despite their party riding to power on the slogan of “change.” It is doubtful if Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi would have appointed 24 commissioners and 12 special advisers if he relied on the Enugu State IGR, which was projected at N19.25 billion in 2014.
Apart from Governors Nasir el-Rufai (who reduced Kaduna’s 19 ministries to 13), Ibrahim Geidam (who slashed Yobe’s ministries from 22 to 15), Abdulaziz Yari (who restructured Zamfara’s 25 ministries to 16), and Abdullahi Gunduje (18 ministries to 14), many of the 36 state governors are simply unserious.
Underlying this trend are several factors. One is the “centralism” of the Nigerian federation. The reliance of the states on statutory allocations from the centre has discouraged initiative, innovation and the crucial principle of self-reliance in state administration. Our governors have no incentive to think since they are guaranteed unearned revenue from the Federation Account each month. They have also contrived to corner the 20.6 per cent of the federal pot assigned to the local governments to add to their 26.72 per cent with little accountability. Moreover, the governors are assisted in their fiscal recklessness by the supine state houses of assembly that are packed with the governors’ handpicked candidates, who have dropped any pretence of serving the electorate. They enthusiastically endorse the governors’ idiosyncratic appointments as long as their own perks are intact.
The action of the governors raises important questions in comparison with our First Republic history. Then, Obafemi Awolowo administered the Western Region with 13 ministers; Ahmadu Bello had 12 ministers in the Northern Region (now 19 states). The absence of virile parliaments, when added to a weak civil society and a confused labour movement, enables the current unbridled waste. Development has atrophied and joblessness is rife as governors waste funds on servicing their political empires instead of deploying resources to critical infrastructure and poverty alleviation.
Unlike in other climes, where strong institutions compel responsible behaviour, our governors lack drive. In the state of California, United States, with a population of 38.8 million and a Gross Domestic Product of $1.95 trillion, the governor has 14 full cabinet members, along with eight elected officials. The state of New South Wales in Australia with a GDP of $487.6 billion has a 22-member cabinet that includes the state premier and deputy premier, while Ontario Province, Canada, with a GDP of $673 billion, has a cabinet of 24, apart from the premier and her deputy. While federating states everywhere are cutting costs and pruning the size of governments, our pathetic state governors “cut costs” by withholding workers’ salaries.
There is an urgent need for strong civic action to compel responsible fiscal behaviour by state governments. For one, workers, through their unions, should explore all legal means to demand payment of wages as they fall due. The labour centres have been too timid and have not demonstrated the necessary vigour in fighting for the rights of public sector workers. The Federal Government and the CBN should stop giving states bailout without very stringent conditions. Grants and loans should only be given to compel fiscal prudence, not to entrench the prevailing culture of waste and self-aggrandisement of our imperial governors.
