The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Questions for Mimiko

    SIR: Despite many harsh and unreasonable policies of his government, I have always surmounted the temptation of assuming the figure of critic of the Governor Olusegun Mimiko-led administration in Ondo State. Alternatively, I have consistently offered suggestions and constructive criticisms via close acquaintances who serve in the government. However, since this is the era of false alarm, the government must hear some open truths.

    For instance, I don’t know what sense to make of a government policy to build ‘mega’ primary schools at the cost of N3.2billion each. As fantastic as the idea seems, it is wasteful and has failed to solve any of the challenges confronting primary education in Ondo State. On the construction of about 36 of such primary schools, the Mimiko-led government wasted a huge N120billion. The lame defence tendered by the government the other time was that the idea is to protect the children of the poor and to make the children of both the poor and the rich study under one roof. Dr Mimiko got it wrong. Class segregation is hardly an issue with primary education in Ondo State. The challenges remain: lack of adequate teachers, shortage of qualified teachers, indiscipline on the part of both teachers and pupils, lack of culture of periodic training for teachers, poor monitoring and oversight functions on the activities of primary schools, and poor funding amongst others. I am afraid the N120billion wasted on few buildings has not addressed any of the highlighted challenges. If the huge N120billion was channelled to the creation of small businesses in Ondo State, Governor Mimiko himself will be amazed and flabbergasted at the enormous rich families he would have created.

    Also, I cannot fathom why any responsible government will abandon the ýreticulation project of Owena Multipurpose Water Dam. This is a project that was designed to supply water to six local governments of Akure North, Akure South, Ifedore, Idanre, Ondo West and Ondo East. The project was awarded by the administration of the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu and contractors have been on site until Dr Mimiko terminated the contract. The defence from the government was that the contract lacked route survey. Nigerians, let’s even concede without admitting the no-route-survey excuse. The government claimed the project lacked route survey in 2009. Six years after, nothing significant has happened. For God’s sake, how many years will it take the Mimiko-led administration to do a route survey and mobilise contractors to site? Those who have been writing and sponsored to write about the development and miracle in Ondo State should know that drinkable water is still a big issue in Akure, the state capital. The abandoned water reticulation project is, perhaps, the face of the development in Ondo State. No matter the propaganda and outright falsehood, the people can see through what they now call cosmetic development under the Mimiko-led administration.

    • Kayode Fakuyi,

    Okitipupa, Ondo Stateý.

  • Enforce that order

    •Policemen and doctors who fail to heed the IG’s order that victims of gunshot wounds be treated unconditionally should be punished

    The age-long directive that has denied victims of gunshot wounds treatment has been lifted by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase. Reacting to the lives lost in the process of seeking police report, and the relentless cries by families of the victims and the general public, the IGP said lives must be saved first.

    Till date, no one has produced the directive that has seen doctors turning away patients, many of them victims of horrendous attacks by armed robbers, cultists and hoodlums. Many hapless citizens have been caught in the crossfire between gangs, and in some cases as the policemen engage criminals in shoot-outs. Hospitals turn down the victims based on experiences they had in the hands of policemen and the gangs.

    Unfortunately, the experience is not limited to private hospitals. Even general and teaching hospitals are known to have come up with flimsy excuses to dodge the responsibility of saving lives. While they do not directly ask for police report, they are known to hide behind non-availability of specialists and bed space.

    It should be realised that every life is precious. No doctor should be told that they swore to the Hippocratic Oath to save lives at all times. It is therefore untenable to avoid the sacred duty under any excuse.

    We also call on the IGP to go beyond this fresh directive. We remind him that this is not the first time such an order would be issued. One of his predecessors, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, had similarly warned policemen against harassing doctors for performing their duty. The instruction was backed by former health minister, Unyebuchi Chukwu, who called on doctors to focus more on caring for all patients before attending to the requirements. The minister assured them of the support of government at all levels. Yet, doctors appear too frightened to heed the call.

    We call on Mr. Arase to go beyond the verbal order, to send signals to the commands and institute punishment for violators. Nigeria cannot afford the needless loss of lives. The ministries of health and police affairs should also collaborate in organising seminars to promote good relations between the two services. The police force in particular has a duty to improve on its public image. Many citizens refuse to accept them as friends. Rather, they are regarded as fiends who must be avoided at all cost. The people refuse to pass information to the law enforcement agents for fear that it would be leaked to criminals or that the complainant, when they seek solace, could be turned to the accused.

    For the same reason, accident victims have been left unattended to by the public. Many tell stories of woes in the hands of the police for merely lending helping hands to accident victims. This is particularly so when such victims die in the process of caring for them.

    Agencies of government at all levels like the departments of information, the National Orientation Agency and the ministries of health should step up campaigns to get the people to be more compassionate in attending to accident and gunshot wound victims.

    As is the case in developed countries, the ambulance service in all states of the country should be adequately funded and equipped to cater for victims of any form of accident – domestic, motor, collapsed building, fire or gunshot within reasonable time. This has the twin advantage of affording the victims first aid treatment and shutting out the fear of victimisation by public-spirited individuals who first reached them. This also connotes that there should be functional short-code emergency numbers on which the ambulances and emergency services could be reached. We note here the good work done by the Lagos State government and commend same to other governments.

    If Nigerians wish to be treated as members of the decent and humane world, public officials have to treat the public with utmost decorum.

  • Audit of airlines

    Audit of airlines

    • NCAA should handle this task as routine

    How often does the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) audit airlines in the country? This is the question that some Nigerians have been asking since the crash on August 12, of a Bristow helicopter in Lagos. Six persons aboard the Sikosky 76 helicopter marked 5N-BGD, which plunged into the lagoon died, while six injured ones were rescued by divers.

    Immediately after, NCAA’s director-general, Capt. Muhtar Usman, ordered i commencement of the safety audit of all the airlines. Usman said this was in line with the authority’s regulatory and oversight responsibilities, adding that the authority’s Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) would continue to intensify the routine ramp inspections. Indeed, virtually all the NCAA boss said could be taken that the authority has not been doing enough to ensure safety on our airspace. For instance, if the authority had been carrying out its assignment as routine, Usman did not need to warn pilots to take precautionary measures during adverse weather conditions by ensuring strict compliance with states’ weather minimal and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

    Moreover, Captain Usman should not have reminded us that the authority would continue to ensure intolerance for non-compliance to regulations  or that airline business in the country would be done according to the standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs) so as to ensure safety and security.

    Indeed, it was for all these reasons that some aviation experts carpeted the authority for making an issue of something that should be routine. A former managing director of IRS Airlines, Yemi Dada, said the NCAA’s announcement of the audit after the helicopter crash was self-indicting; and that it was a way of admitting that it had not been doing its job well. He added that the announcement was capable of causing panic among air travellers. “I believe that the announcement is not necessary. It could lead to panic. However, we cannot blame the agency for doing its work. If you have been doing your work effectively and efficiently, there would not be any reason to make the announcement,” he said.

    However, by alluding to regular audits, we are not just concerned with the technical aspect but also the economic dimension of airline operations. They go together. It is obvious that all is not well with the country’s aviation sector. Many of the airlines in the country are financially insolvent. Nearly all of them are owing major aviation agencies, including the NCAA, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) over N13billion in Ticket Sales Charges. This situation births desperation, which compels the operators to unethical practices. They are bound to cut  corners to keep the airlines afloat.

    There is also the problem of corruption that is paralysing every sector of the economy. For instance, a few years ago, the airlines received huge sums as bailout funds from the Federal Government to enable them improve their operations. No one is sure what many of them did with the funds, which apparently implies that they saw the money as free funds.

    There are enough justifications for the NCAA to beam its searchlight on the economic audit of the airlines to be sure that only the financially healthy ones are allowed to operate. We will only be inviting trouble for the air passengers if we allow flying coffins in our airspace.

    We urge the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to conduct a thorough investigation into the crash, with a view to giving an insight into its cause. The government also must be ready to provide the NCAA and other agencies in the aviation sector the required assistance to recruit adequate manpower and procure the tools needed to facilitate their operations.

    “There are enough justifications for the NCAA to beam its searchlight on economic audit of the airlines to be sure that only the financially healthy ones are allowed to operate. We will only be inviting trouble for the air passengers if we allow flying coffins in our airspace.  We urge the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to conduct a thorough investigation into the crash, with a view to giving an insight into its cause.”

  • Contract sleaze

    Contract sleaze

    The Buhari government must change the 60 percent failure rate

    The menace of project failure has become ingrained in our national psyche to the detriment of her wellbeing. This challenge seems to be evading the desired attention. The damning report obtained from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s (UNIDO) recent workshop in Kaduna State reveals projects’ success across the country in the last 20 years to be within 38 – 39 percent, with failure put at 60 percent. Once again, it pushed this problem to the fore. We ask: How can 60 per cent of projects in the nation end up in failure and nothing significant is being done to address the situation?

    It is interesting that project management experts, including Mithat Kulur, Project Lead Advisor of UNIDO and Mark Engelhardt, Consultant and Trainer for UNIDO, among others, attended the workshop convoked in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) to discuss issues on Project Management and Team Building. It is encouraging that the workshop was attended by project managers in public institutions including the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), amongst others, across the country.

    Kulur reportedly disclosed at the workshop that Nigeria invests ‘millions of dollars on projects, brings on board the services of international expatriates using local resources to meet the compelling demands of those projects, yet experienced over 60 percent project failure within the framework of governmental systems.’ This is quite frightening even when we consider the percentage as conservative, given the nation’s proclivity  for projects’ failures and abandonment.

    This deleterious trend portends a bad omen in a nation that has been struggling to develop her infrastructural base for decades, to no avail. The talk-shop is just a reminder of an endemic problem of project management that is begging to be officially addressed. Despite the fact that project management challenges is a universal issue, the large-scale and trend at which projects fail in this country demand urgent and serious attention.  Working within budget limits through optimum utilisation of resources has been an avoidable bane in the public affairs of the nation.

    We discovered that even before the UNIDO workshop exposition, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in a recent programme beamed on national network a special report on abandoned projects in the country. It showed that 11,800 abandoned Federal Government projects, including not less than 130 power projects running into trillions of naira, were awaiting government attention. Apart from the trillions wasted, it also underscores the degeneration of values in service delivery in the nation’s public service.

    ‘We hope to see a drastic and holistic change of official attitude to projects management in the country for the good of the nation. The government can do this by eliminating the retrogressive syndrome of political patronage that has promoted nepotism/tribalism and corruption above national interest and wellbeing’

    We say this because most of these projects failed due to avoidable seamy factors as contract variations, corruption, defective planning/management, tribalism/nepotism in choice of contract awards to deficient companies and lack of political will not only to enforce compliance of standards by successive administrations but also to mete out sanctions on erring companies and their promoters.

    We expect things to change with the assumption of a new government under President Muhammadu Buhari. He has promised a new berth from the corrupt past. We hope to see a drastic and holistic change of official attitude to projects management in the country for the good of the nation. The government can do this by eliminating the retrogressive syndrome of political patronage that has promoted nepotism/tribalism and corruption above national interest and wellbeing. The incidence of abandoned/failed projects has done more harm to the nation than good and the time to move forward is now.

     

  • Special courts?

    Special courts?

    Considering the myriad allegations of corruption, in recent times, the proposal that special courts should be set up to try looters is attractive. The challenge, however, would be how the government can make that happen. To create a new set of courts, the government may be confronted with the task of amending the constitution. An alternative would be to collaborate with the judiciary, to designate some courts to specifically handle corruption-related cases. We believe however that if the government can successfully set up special courts to expeditiously deal with corruption cases, the anti-graft war will be more efficient.

    Luckily, the new Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, if implemented, will also help to reduce the abuse that criminal trials are fraught with in the country. It is hoped that the act will bring an end to the abuse of court procedure, through irrelevant applications meant to stall quick trials for criminal offences. Again, the act will arrest the use of frivolous injunctions by especially politically exposed persons, to frustrate their trials. So, if in addition to the new act, special courts are put in place, trials in criminal matters may seize to last for years, as we presently experience.

    It is also hoped that the recently reported screening of judges by security agencies, to sift the upright ones from the pack, to man such courts for corruption related cases will further give impetus to the fight against corruption. Considering that the integrity of a judge is the fulcrum of a court of law, we urge the government to be thorough in the screening. There is no doubt that unless the guilty are confronted with their sins before upright judges, the chances of wriggling out from conviction are higher, as our recent experience showed.

    As we witnessed in recent past, a number of judges had handed out ridiculous sentences, or mere fines, for serious criminal offences. While a few of them later got sanctioned for their misconduct, the beneficiaries of the miscarriage of justice got away based on those ridiculously light punishments. So, the sanctity of the judicial process, which hinges on the integrity of the judges and other judicial officers, is fundamental to a successful prosecution of the war on corruption.

    Nigerians expect that with the help of the National Judicial Council (NJC), judges who have proven cases of corrupt tendencies would be shown the way out. In beaming the searchlight on the judges, those who have been overtly soft on corruption, and those with unexplainable wealth, should not be saddled with serious corruption cases. While it will be unfair to witch-hunt any judicial officer, it will be fair to subject their past actions to scrutiny.

    Where there is the need to amend the constitution or other extant laws, we urge the legislature, both at the federal and state levels, to give their maximum cooperation to the exercise. For most Nigerians, the war on corruption should be treated as a national emergency, such that the three arms of government would work together to ensure maximum efficiency. To underscore the importance of the war against corruption, we call on the opposition parties to support a bi-partisan war on corruption.

    While hoping on the cooperation of other critical stakeholders, it is encouraging that President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have made the war on corruption a priority. As the president has said severally, if Nigeria does not kill corruption, the cankerworm will kill Nigeria. So, if special courts are needed to slay the corruption dragon, we urge the government to take every expeditious action to create them.

    ‘As the president has said severally, if Nigeria does not kill corruption, the cankerworm will kill Nigeria. So, if special courts are needed to slay the corruption dragon, we urge the government to take every expeditious action to create them’

  • Double jeopardy

    Double jeopardy

    •We cannot reward a government that failed to run an airline and oversee private ones by giving it a new one

    The plan to set up a national carrier for air travels in Nigeria and abroad reels back memories of the defunct Nigeria Airways. And it is no fond recall.

    It was racked with inefficiency, nepotism, chaos and ultimately a disgraceful failure. The President, Muhammadu Buhari, had lamented during the presidential campaign season that Nigeria had not succeeded in managing its national carrier as well as such other establishments as the Nigerian National Shipping Line. His diagnosis was right. Not so his solution.

    The Nigeria Airways failed because it had no obligation to make profit. So long as it flew, it had fulfilled its purpose. It did that at the expense of public funds and national morality.

    It was also an indictment on government and its top office holders, especially during the military era. In local and international flights, purchased tickets did not guarantee assigned seats. Assigned seats did not guarantee flights. Punctuality did not place one ahead of late passengers. It was common to see passengers run to the planes to secure seats. Some weak and older people brought sprinters with them to the airport who secured seats for them first and then rose for the rightful owners.

    Anxiety of the rebirth of a national carrier trailed a recent decision by the Federal Government to inaugurate a 13-member committee to intersect with international partners to facilitate the establishment of a national carrier. The terms of reference include: “reviewing previous consultants submission and recommendations; to invite submissions from the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria on the debt profile of the domestic airlines; and to consult widely with stakeholders on the establishment of a national carrier.”

    The committee is expected to x-ray why the Nigeria Airways failed, and, cheerily, to explore the prospects of setting up an airline on public-private partnership basis. The membership of the committee gives room for cheer since it encompasses persons from both public and private sectors, including those who have managed private and public airlines.

    ‘Airlines outside Nigeria, especially in the developed world, whether it is the British Airways or Lufthansa or United Airlines, all thrive on the virtues of free enterprise. If the government has a zeal for it, it should run on a public-private partnership model. That will ensure that the private stocks hold the government accountable’

    Nigeria has had enough experience to know that we should not make public decisions based on the present crop of leaders’ integrity. Some have argued that under President Buhari, a national carrier will be marked by efficiency because the present leadership is serious. This is not the way to build institutions. It turns the nation into an enclave of men and not of laws. But our desire is to ennoble our institutions, so that they expose and convict the bad and ride on the integrity and efficiency of the wise and upright.

    Airlines outside Nigeria, especially in the developed world, whether it is the British Airways or Lufthansa or United Airlines, all thrive on the virtues of free enterprise.

    If the government has a zeal for it, it should run on a public-private partnership model. That will ensure that the private stocks hold the government accountable. The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd. is a good example of how it can be profitable. Yet, it can also be fraught with corruption, as evident in the lack of remittance of hundreds of billions of Naira to the national coffers.

    We also know that part of the logic for considering the national carrier option derives from the inefficiencies of some private airlines. Some of them are mired in debts and a few have brought mourning to homes because of crashes traced to inefficiency.

    We cannot, as they say, throw the baby away with the bath water. One of the reasons for the crashes was a lack of strict regulations by the aviation authorities. These same government bodies cannot be asked to run an airline. It will be double jeopardy.

     

  • Failure is not an option

    SIR: ‘’Failure is not an option for us. We will not contemplate it’’. These were the words of President Muhammadu Buhari at the United States Institute for Peace in Washington DC during his four-day visit on the invitation of President Obama. Nigeria is not in the best of times. This is no longer news. All the sectors of the country’s economy are in a state of near-collapse. This calls for great concern by both the governing party and the opposition party because our common goal should be to sacrifice for the future and future generation of Nigerians.

    Here is food for thought for everyone: exchange rate is N241 to $1; the rate of unemployment is over 23 per cent; foreign and domestic debt is over $10 billion; rate of inflation is about 10 per cent; rate of poverty is over 70 per cent. How do Nigerians survive these poor economic indices? Most companies are already downsizing in addition to the millions of unemployed youths roaming the streets on a daily basis. Nigeria’s economy continues to be import-dependent with the manufacturing sector struggling to come back to life.

    The National Assembly must cooperate with the President and avoid any attempt at playing politics with the lives of Nigerians in carrying out their duties. This is not to say that they should abandon their constitutional responsibilities of checking the executive arm of government. But they must support the Buhari administration in his change agenda so that he can succeed.  The National Assembly must work for the good of Nigerians and in the interest of vulnerable populations. Putting the people first should be the watchword of every public office holder and politician.

    Members of the 8th National Assembly, both the lower and upper chambers must work on and pass bills that will directly impact the lives of poor Nigerians who are having a hard time on account of the poor state of the country’s economy. They cannot afford to fail Nigerians again. Nigerians deserve bills aimed at alleviating their sufferings and improving their standard of living. Bills such as the Expansion of NHIS bill; Deficit reduction bill; Balanced budget bill; Jobs creation bill; Child’s right bill; Disability bill; Elderly and Pensioners bill, among others, should be worked on and passed speedily and without delay.

    Nigeria would have moved closer to achieving its potential if public office holders had been responsible and spent our common wealth judiciously. Now is the time for politicians to come up with plans and actions to meet the needs of the Nigerian people.

     

    • Bolaji Samson Aregbeshola is the author of ‘’Nigerian Political Parties and Politicians: Winding Road from Country to Nation’’
  • TETFund’s request

    TETFund’s request

    • The Federal Government should scrutinise its proposal before taking a decision on it

    Should the two per cent education tax levied on the assessable profit of businesses operating in Nigeria to finance the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) be increased? This question has become relevant in light of recent hints by the executive secretary of the fund, Professor Suleiman Bogoro, that such a measure may be in the works.

    According to Bogoro, the Federal Ministry of Education has sent comprehensive plans to the Presidency in which a rise in the education tax was recommended. The increase could raise the tax to anything between three per cent and four per cent of company profits, and it is apparently in response to mounting pressure on TETFund to increase the scope and depth of its intervention in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.

    In a country undergoing deep spending cuts due to revenue shortfalls stemming from steep declines in the price of crude oil, it is obvious that increased efforts must be made to maximise the generation of internal revenues. An increase in the education tax is in line with this trend, especially given the fact that it is targetted at providing vital funding for tertiary institutions which have long struggled with the challenges of decrepit infrastructure, inadequate equipment and decreased research output.

    TETFund’s past achievements in this regard are a clear demonstration of the impact of its interventions on the Nigerian tertiary education system. Federal and state-owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country provide incontrovertible evidence of TETFund involvement, particularly administrative buildings, laboratories, libraries, vehicles and research grants, most of which are being put to beneficial use.

    However, the proposed increase leaves far too many questions unanswered. Was corporate Nigeria consulted on the decision to raise the education tax? To what extent has TETFund’s income been properly accounted for? How well have TETFund finances been utilised by the benefitting institutions? Such questions speak to the vital necessity of ensuring that taxes of this kind are not levied for their own sake. The country is witness to the mess made of the pensions of civil servants and retired soldiers; repeated acts of misappropriation have made billionaires of a few individuals while pensioners have died without receiving their entitlements.

    Although it cannot be said with any certainty that TETFund has similarly become a cesspool of corrupt enrichment, there appear to be certain anomalies which seem to indicate that its funds may not have been put to optimum use, in spite of its extensive interventions.

    In November 2014, the then Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, announced that N7.8 billion, amounting to more than 70 per cent of the N10.052 billion in research funds domiciled in TETFund, had not been touched. If public tertiary institutions have been unable to make use of the funds currently available to them under a two per cent education tax regime, what is the guarantee that they will be able to do so if the tax rises to three per cent or four per cent?

    Then there is the issue of exactly what TETFund money is expended on, such as the N27 billion which has been spent on overseas education. It is difficult to justify such a policy when it would clearly have been better to use such funds to rehabilitate indigenous institutions and thereby expand their capacity to train students locally.

    TETFund and the benefitting institutions need to do more to ensure that they make full use of what is currently available before demanding more. TETFund must redouble its efforts to publicise the availability of infrastructural development and research funds; the tertiary institutions must retool their systems, procedures and processes to enable them to better utilise the fund’s services.

  • NASS jumbo pay

    • The problem is not the basic salary but the magical allowances

    A pressure group, the Movement for Nigeria’s Total Transformation (MNTT), has perhaps raised the most profound query over National Assembly’s (NASS) hefty pay.

    “From 1999 to 2003, he earned N6million a year, from which he paid his aides,” MNTT quoted a South West senator, in the first senate of the present dispensation.  “What fortune has befallen Nigeria, that made N6 million a year for each senator, from 1999 to 2003, become N48 million a year, which is now N4 million a month, as disclosed by the RMAFC chairman?”

    The body, chaired by Chief Areoye Oyebola, former editor of the defunct Daily Times, was reacting to a claim by Elias Ebam, Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), which constitutional role was to fix salaries and emoluments of political office holders.

    What has happened between 1999 and now — NASS has got more opaque and progressively brazen in helping itself to the common wealth it is constitutionally charged to guard and fairly appropriate? And RMAFC, progressively defanged, it could only wring its hands and point, near sotto voce, to an all-powerful culprit, NASS?

    To be fair, the public has been trenchant from the very beginning. But it would appear Nigerians could only bark, not bite. And horrors of horrors: by exclusively passing its own budget, and proceeding to share the pork among its members as it deemed fit, NASS is guilty of incestuous budgeting.

    That, indeed, does great violence to the doctrine of separation of powers; and its twin, checks-and-balances, on which presidentialism is anchored; and on which constitutionally robust platform NASS earned its over-sight function.

    It is therefore a condemnable case of wilful oversight, for NASS, by its opaque budgeting, to brazenly corner a mighty chunk of the common wealth, leaving the people, its electoral masters, to wallow in poverty. That is absolutely unacceptable.

    But even now, nobody appears sure of any fact — so near-impregnable is NASS’s fiscal opacity — beyond the jumbo yearly NASS budget of N150 billion, since 2010. Premium Times, an online newspaper claims, after an investigation, that the 360 members of the House of Representatives gross a yearly N6.58 billion, in salaries and allowances. The corresponding figure for the 109-member Senate is N2.14 billion.

    From the RMAFC, however, there is no definitive figure, not on the extant basic salary, not on allowances, only a plaintive moan from Mr. Ebam, that no NASS member should earn more than N1million a month, at the end of its current review. That certainly is not good enough. How could the RMAFC have been so remiss in its constitutional duty of over-seeing the pay of public office holders, elected and appointed?

    Mr. Ebam pleads poor funding; and argues RMAFC should be financially autonomous, by charging its funds to the Consolidated Revenue Fund. He also calls for power to enforce its recommendations. That is not unreasonable, though the call for charge into the Consolidated Fund smells like some fiscal empire building, which should not be necessary, had there been good faith all round. Anyway, whatever help RMAFC needs, to ensure sanity in public holders’ salaries, it should get.  But the practicability of any radical amendment to the extant law appears dim, since NASS would be crucial to the process, since its forte is law-making.

    Whatever it takes, the Buhari Presidency should do all it could to aid RMAFC right all the wrongs, in this lopsided salary scandal. NASS, for its public image and brand equity, should also cooperate. And if it doesn’t, the courts should weigh in to pronounce on any constitutional grey areas.

    In the final analysis, what to focus on is not the basic salaries, per se, but those magical allowances, which appear unconscionably loaded. More transparency in executive procedures would instantly cut out the  ever-recurring sleaze in legislative over-sight functions, which make many a legislator hanker after “juicy committees”. More on the executive: it must also drastically cut down on the perks of ministers and allied presidential appointees. It is no use roasting elected legislators, but letting presidential appointees wallow in their own unearned luxuries.

    Government is to serve but not to be served. The earlier this ethos is imbibed, the better Nigerian governments would maximally utilise scarce resources, ensure economic growth, and deliver development and ultimate prosperity.

  • Redefining pilgrims’ progress

    Redefining pilgrims’ progress

    It’s not enough to limit government involvement in hajj but to institutionalise it permanently

    Whether the constitutional secularity of the Nigerian state should accommodate its participation in the spiritual lives of the people, and what should be the limits of such involvement, are not new issues. But the Muhammadu Buhari presidency has reopened the unresolved debate by an official announcement of its detachment from the funding of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the hajj. Instead, the Federal Government’s role will be restricted to providing consular, medical and welfare support to the pilgrims. A national coordinating committee set up to supervise the hajj will be funded by the service charge paid by pilgrims to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).  

    Furthermore, in a significant departure from convention, there will be no delegation representing the central administration at the 2015 hajj for “procedural and economic reasons.”  The government is expected to save one million US Dollars and N30 million in local expenses as a result of this decision.

    It is noteworthy that 66,000 pilgrims are expected to be flown to the holy land ahead of the closure of Jedda Airport on September 17, according to NAHCON Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Muktar Muhammad. They are scheduled to return to Nigeria in batches in an operation that will be concluded by October 27.

    It is unclear whether the position of the Presidency on this year’s hajj is essentially a policy that will be effected throughout President Buhari’s four-year tenure and define his perspective on the customary sponsorship of hajj pilgrims by the federal and state governments. The question is: Considering the premise of financial straits, will improved economic circumstances prompt a rethink?  The possibility of a reversal, not only by the Buhari administration but also by succeeding authorities, is a strong indication that the question of state funding of pilgrimages remains a question and needs to be answered in definite and definitive terms.

    Apart from the presidential position, the Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s example also reflected a reconsideration of the subject that may become appealing to other governors. El-Rufai was quoted as saying that the state had saved N221.8m following its decision to shun pilgrimage sponsorship. His argument that the state had to save resources to be able to address other pressing problems, especially in the areas of education and health, has the force of sound logic in the context of the country’s development challenges. In a repeat of the Federal Government’s reasoning, the Kaduna State government said:  “The government recognises its duty to provide officials who will cater for the spiritual and welfare needs of the pilgrims. Therefore, the government will discharge its obligation to the pilgrims and send a delegation of guides, preachers, medical personnel, media professionals and pilgrim officers.”

     Statistics that 5,682 citizens of the state would attend this year’s hajj, to be supported by 116 officials, paint a picture of the size of supposedly privately sponsored pilgrims. However, El-Rufai’s boast that his administration has made the concept of pilgrimage-sponsorship by government irrelevant suggests a lack of appreciation of his constitutionally limited tenure and the possibility of a reversal by succeeding administrations.

    What this means is that it will take more than the personal perspective of political helmsmen to put a stop to the practice of government-funded pilgrimage. To prevent possible flip-flop on the issue based on the preference of whoever is in power, there should be a formal concretisation of the no-government-funding position.

    It must be stressed that the principle of non-governmental pilgrimage-sponsorship should be applied to Christian pilgrims as well. Specifically, Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem and related holy lands ought to be privately sponsored too.

    It goes without saying that government sponsorship of pilgrimages related to Islam and Christianity involves money that could be better employed for development purposes. Faith is personal and should be treated as such by the political authorities. This will free much-needed funds for critical developmental projects at both federal and state levels.

    Particularly in the new era of President Buhari focused on and driven by an intense anti-corruption crusade, the privatisation of matters relating to religious pilgrimage will probably   have positive implications for the anti-corruption war. Given the rottenness of the old political order, it may not need any special investigation to support allegations that government pilgrimage-sponsorship has been a platform for corrupt practices by political players.

    It is high time the secular and the spiritual were distinctly differentiated in a country that claims a non-theocratic tag. The actual problems of the secular world, particularly in a development-challenged country like Nigeria, are too demanding to excuse the use of scarce funds on spiritual aspirations that are personal and only narrowly promote the corporate good. We must separate pilgrims’ progress from socio-economic progress.