Enugu — Despite efforts being made by the Federal Government to mop the pension backlog, about N2 trillion is still being owed workers, said Professor Julius Ihonv-bere, a presidential adviser on policy and programmes monitoring.

Also, the recent reforms embarked upon by the Federal Government may have reduced the cost of running the administration by about N50 billion in the past 18 months through the "Due Process Mechanism," a system aimed at recovering money from wasted contracts.

Ihonvbere made the disclosure yesterday in Enugu while delivering a lecture titled: "The Obasanjo Second Term in Office: Reinventing and Repo-sitioning Nigeria for Growth, Stability and Development" at the on-going 2003 annual general conference of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).

He said the Due Process Mechanism introduced by the Presidency has ensured that wasted monies are put into capital development, while regretting that greedy contractors, politicians and bureaucrats have milked the country dry over the past decades. He said the recovered money has been channelled into education, water supply, health services, roads, technology and industrial development.

Ihonvbere also disclosed that the monthly pension bill of the Nigeria Railways which stands at N250 million and the monthly wage bill which stands at N210 million is a source of worry to the Federal Government. He added that the income from the corporation is a paltry sum. He also assured that the contributory scheme which will be sent to the National Assembly as a bill will "get the ball rolling."

The special adviser said major nations of the world built their structures and cities from pensions funds that are guaranteed and invested properly, while saying that Nigeria will do the same thing. He criticised politicians, businessmen and other Nigerians who evade tax and those who carry about forged tax payers. "This is ungodly and unpatriotic," he noted.

According to him, the fight against waste has been quite successful as wastage incurred through public officials has been curbed. He disclosed that the former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim returned 38 cars to the government when he left. And over 78 officers and countless aides attended to him alone. He said there were over 10,000 policemen serving as orderlies to public and private citizens and that government will henceforth no longer pay for maids, drivers, personal assistants, and security guards of public officials. He said some individual and top government officials even had over 14 official cars, thereby constituting a problem whereby over 75 per cent of income is spent on overheads.

Talking about reforms in the civil service, he said the mind boggling stealing of public funds going on will be curbed within the system. He questioned the rationale behind an arrangement in which the Federal Ministry of Works for instance should have 48,000 workers, with more than 60 per cent technologically illiterate, while laziness, inefficiency, ineffectiveness, demotivation and "I-don't-care" attitude were the order of the day. According to him, the reforms proposed by the government in this sector would be comprehensive and would be directed at introducing new technology, redefining its mission and creating growth and stability.

He emphasised that the implementation of these radical reforms will be costly and painful but that "there is absolutely no going back on this and with time it would cover all government departments and parastatals."

"We hope the state and local governments would follow the example set by the Federal Government. This is one of the best policies ever initiated in Nigeria since political independence," he said.

Ihonvbere said the president has set up an economic management team consisting of technocrats and experts. The team, he said, meets every Wednesday before the Federal Executive Council meeting. He explained that not all members of the team are members of the council as less than five per cent of the members attend FEC meetings. "Economic and management issues are subjected to vigorous debates and strategies for moving the economy forward and related sectors are addressed by the team," he said.

He noted that many of the technocrats owe no debt to any political party or godfather as their appointments were solely based on merit and past records of commitment.

On the local government reforms, he said the report of the committee set up to look into the issue will be made available to Nigerians to study, debate and make further imputs. Ihonvbere said privatisation of government owned enterprises will continue and that the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will continue its work aimed at sanitising the country.

On the budget office, he said efforts are being made to eliminate deficit financing of projects and that a procurement commission is being established to eliminate over-invoicing and duplication of purchases.

He charged lawyers to use their special knowledge and training to promote development in the country. According to him, law in Nigeria has become a weapon of domination and exploitation and implored the judiciary to desist from all sorts of criminal activities that taint the image of the country.