Honourable Dimeji Bankole noted at 6th Annual Trust Dialogue organised by Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust, that civil servants steal the bulk of unspent funds that should have been returned to the government treasury. In fact he was quoted has saying “………we have now discovered that each year, N700 billion is lost in the hands of civil servants. The money was never remitted to government coffers”. He observed that while politicians “come and go”, civil servants are a permanent feature of government bureaucracy. And that no Permanent Secretary had been put on trial for any financial misdeed.
I’m not entirely sure about the motivation behind these statements. Is it to score cheap political goals? or create an impression that politicians are no more corrupt than civil servants? For the Speaker to say civil servants are ‘corrupt’, is like a-pot-calling-a-kettle ‘black’. It is common knowledge that the Nigerian public service is as corrupt is it can get. The Nigerian Civil Service evolved from the colonial service which was established by the British authorities as the administrative machinery for governing Nigeria. However, it is unfortunate that currently 70% of its workforce is made up of unskilled staff (only 1.7% is in the strategic thinking directorate). It is saddled with the problem of “ghost” workers, symptomatic of poor personnel records and payroll control systems. And to make matters worse, we currently have Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with neither Mission nor Vision Statements, or clear corporate and individual schedules of duties. The Nigerian civil service is perhaps one of the most poorly paid in the world. A Permanent Secretary in the Federal Service earns an average of $1000 a month!
The creation of Bureau of Public Service Reform in 2003 by Ex-President Obasanjo was aimed at dealing with the some of the structural decay in the civil service mentioned earlier. It is however sad to say that, six years on these problems still remains. Probably, the ‘reformers’ themselves needed to be reformed. Unfortunately, the public service reform has not lumped into the President Yar’adua ‘7-point agenda’ - which is currently a waste of time.
My question to Hon. Bankole is, what has the National Assembly done to strengthen and re-vitalise the civil service? In a democracy, the Legislature should be responsible for holding the Executive and Public Service accountable. However, instead of that being the case, Nigerian legislators collude with civil servants to loot the treasury. The same National Assembly members have been guilt of sharing ‘unspent funds’ with civil servants – as seen recently in the case of Ministry of Health and Sen. Iyabo Obasanjo.
Also in the same vein, he alleged that three ex-ministers, (whose names he refused to divulge) sacrificed the opportunity of a foreign direct investment because the investors preferred to execute the projects themselves under the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) model and were not prepared to release the funds to the ministries related to the projects. His word I quote “There was a consortium that came to Nigeria last year. They all own banks and have already facilitated meeting with the three ministers after the meeting with the President. They were to bring $14 billion and to show the faith they were ready to block-off $1 billion for the government even before any transaction takes place between those ministries and the consortium. However, from the date of the meeting with the ministries till last week, it’s about eight months there was no movement, none whatsoever in fact, the three ministries totally discouraged us from having access to this fund, which is being offered without interest to build Nigerian infrastructure. I don’t understand that. I don’t know if you understand it. Well, I made bold to say that those ministers are no longer manning the ministries or are they in government anymore”.
It is also not surprising that our Ministers bungle foreign direct investments that would have benefitted that nation. In a situation when you have a President, who seems to care less and ‘nonentity’ as Ministers (all in the name of federal character) then you can’t expect any magic.
The democratic structure establishes a system of ‘checks and balances’. When the Executive makes mistakes, it is the role of the Legislature to ask the right questions. However, what we see is bickering about personal allowances. When you expect the National Assembly to scrutinise Ministers prior to their appointment, they simply ask them to ‘take a bow and leave’!
Despite been a former Senator and First Lady, Hilary Clinton was subjected to serious questioning at the US Senate prior to confirmation of her confirmation as Secretary of State. She was made to answer questions relating to her husband’s businesses and perceived conflicts of interest that may arise as a result of her appointment. In Nigeria, such a personality wouldn’t even be required to attend the Senate.
The National Assembly has demonstrated lack of competence and vision since its inception. Commentators who thought the election of Bankole as Speaker was breath of fresh air (considering his age and exposure), are now beginning to see that, he his just a new wine in an old bottle.. Honourable members have embarked on series of probes, inquiries etc in the 18 months, none of which has yielded any result till date.
It is time the Legislature starts fulfilling its role in holding the government accountable. It should help empower our democratic structure through an objective, open and transparent constitutional review process.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Atiku Vs Kaka
Two important events this week puts Nigeria as a nation and its citizenry into perspective. This week saw the biggest financial offer to be made to a footballer, and the unexpected visit of the former Vice-President Abubakar Atiku to his erstwhile boss Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Although these events are not in anyway related but I want to draw upon their commonality.
Take the case of the Brazilian footballer Kaka, Manchester City Football Club offered to pay AC Milan 150 million pounds for Kaka and put him on a weekly wage of 250,000 pounds. For goodness sake, is any player in the world worth 250,000 pounds? Anyway that’s a discussion for another day.
For any 26 year-old from Brazil, this type of offer is very tempting. I’m sure that there are only very few (and I repeat – very few) people in the world who will not be tempted by such financial inducement. However following series of speculations, the young man decided to stay put in Milan. He was quoted as saying ‘everything tells him to stay at Milan’. Which to him means everything is not all about money. He feels his future lies with Milan because he believes in the culture, mentality and ideology of the football club. People say ‘why will he want to leave a team like Milan for Manchester City - who are currently struggling just above the relegation zone’. My answer to that is - why not? At 26, he could probably have moved (subject to all types of ‘get out’ clauses), sign a three year contract, and if things don’t work out leave for another club. By doing so, he would have cashed in on the lucrative offer and make enough money to set him up for the rest of his life. The reality is, there is no guarantee that he will win more trophies in Milan shirt. What if (God forbids) he stays in Milan and his career is cut short due to injury?
On the other hand, we have an old generation of politicians in Nigeria who seem to have lost their principles and are now busy realigning and positioning themselves for next general elections in 2011. Considering what we witnessed in the last days of the Obasanjo regime, who would have thought that a day will come when Atiku will pay a visit to Obasanjo. While I don’t want to be drawn into speculations about the reasons for his visit, it is interesting to note the positive ‘spin’ been put on the visit.It is alleged that the meeting is in the nation’s interest. If the former President really had the interest of the nation in his heart, why did he choose to appoint successor who is considered to be very ill. If reports circulating in the foreign media are to be believed, President Yar’Adua is currently planning and extensive medical leave overseas. I need not to remind you of the saga that unfolded during his last ‘lesser hajj’ to Saudi Arabia. The state of the nation, which Atiku and Obasanjo now intend to correct, was as a result of their selfish and vindictive attitude.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Atiku and Obasanjo shouldn’t reconcile, however it shouldn’t be under any false pretence of saving the nation. Which nation?. Atiku needs to decide if he wants to continue to be in the opposition or realign with his old cohorts. It beats my imagination that, a leader of an opposition party will be meeting leaders of the government in power without the knowledge of his political followers. If Atiku truly believes in the principles of the Action Congress as an opposition party, then he should please stick with it.
I must say that most of our politicians are ‘political prostitutes’, they jump from one party to the other in order to satisfy self-greed and ego. This is not surprising because none of our current political parties is has any political ideology. Has anyone ever asked the PDP or AC leaders what the parties stood for? Which social agenda are they pursuing? What are their economic principles? No wonder, 18 months into Yar’Adua administration we are still talking about seven-point agenda. The only achievements of the government so far are ‘policy reversals’. In western democracies, people affiliate with political parties based on principles and ideologies. Political parties in Nigeria are all about getting into government.
The refusal of Kaka to join Man City demonstrates a high level of ‘self principle’ and discipline we wouldn’t expect from a 26 year-old who has the world at his feet. Despite all the inducements, the young man stuck to what he believed in. Discipline and principle is however lacking among Nigerian political-class who will do anything to be in power in order to further advance their corrupt and fraudulent lifestyles. It is time we stand up against these ‘cabals’ and stop them from perpetuating themselves in power, either directly or through their proxies. Our country has to move beyond these individuals because they have failed us in every facet of life.
Yes we can!
Take the case of the Brazilian footballer Kaka, Manchester City Football Club offered to pay AC Milan 150 million pounds for Kaka and put him on a weekly wage of 250,000 pounds. For goodness sake, is any player in the world worth 250,000 pounds? Anyway that’s a discussion for another day.
For any 26 year-old from Brazil, this type of offer is very tempting. I’m sure that there are only very few (and I repeat – very few) people in the world who will not be tempted by such financial inducement. However following series of speculations, the young man decided to stay put in Milan. He was quoted as saying ‘everything tells him to stay at Milan’. Which to him means everything is not all about money. He feels his future lies with Milan because he believes in the culture, mentality and ideology of the football club. People say ‘why will he want to leave a team like Milan for Manchester City - who are currently struggling just above the relegation zone’. My answer to that is - why not? At 26, he could probably have moved (subject to all types of ‘get out’ clauses), sign a three year contract, and if things don’t work out leave for another club. By doing so, he would have cashed in on the lucrative offer and make enough money to set him up for the rest of his life. The reality is, there is no guarantee that he will win more trophies in Milan shirt. What if (God forbids) he stays in Milan and his career is cut short due to injury?
On the other hand, we have an old generation of politicians in Nigeria who seem to have lost their principles and are now busy realigning and positioning themselves for next general elections in 2011. Considering what we witnessed in the last days of the Obasanjo regime, who would have thought that a day will come when Atiku will pay a visit to Obasanjo. While I don’t want to be drawn into speculations about the reasons for his visit, it is interesting to note the positive ‘spin’ been put on the visit.It is alleged that the meeting is in the nation’s interest. If the former President really had the interest of the nation in his heart, why did he choose to appoint successor who is considered to be very ill. If reports circulating in the foreign media are to be believed, President Yar’Adua is currently planning and extensive medical leave overseas. I need not to remind you of the saga that unfolded during his last ‘lesser hajj’ to Saudi Arabia. The state of the nation, which Atiku and Obasanjo now intend to correct, was as a result of their selfish and vindictive attitude.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Atiku and Obasanjo shouldn’t reconcile, however it shouldn’t be under any false pretence of saving the nation. Which nation?. Atiku needs to decide if he wants to continue to be in the opposition or realign with his old cohorts. It beats my imagination that, a leader of an opposition party will be meeting leaders of the government in power without the knowledge of his political followers. If Atiku truly believes in the principles of the Action Congress as an opposition party, then he should please stick with it.
I must say that most of our politicians are ‘political prostitutes’, they jump from one party to the other in order to satisfy self-greed and ego. This is not surprising because none of our current political parties is has any political ideology. Has anyone ever asked the PDP or AC leaders what the parties stood for? Which social agenda are they pursuing? What are their economic principles? No wonder, 18 months into Yar’Adua administration we are still talking about seven-point agenda. The only achievements of the government so far are ‘policy reversals’. In western democracies, people affiliate with political parties based on principles and ideologies. Political parties in Nigeria are all about getting into government.
The refusal of Kaka to join Man City demonstrates a high level of ‘self principle’ and discipline we wouldn’t expect from a 26 year-old who has the world at his feet. Despite all the inducements, the young man stuck to what he believed in. Discipline and principle is however lacking among Nigerian political-class who will do anything to be in power in order to further advance their corrupt and fraudulent lifestyles. It is time we stand up against these ‘cabals’ and stop them from perpetuating themselves in power, either directly or through their proxies. Our country has to move beyond these individuals because they have failed us in every facet of life.
Yes we can!
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