With his administration's demonstrable capacity to bite the bullet, the implementation of the Oronsaye report is a must for the president.
In sync with the present reality, President Bola Tinubu slashed the number of his entourage on foreign and domestic travels last week, in what is viewed as a much-anticipated cost of governance reduction measure. This prudential drive also covers the travels of the Vice President, First Lady and heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government.
The laudable move came in the wake of a barrage of criticisms of Nigeria's 1,411-member contingent to the COP 28 climate conference in Dubai, and other cavalier public spending patterns. Although the Federal Government admitted that it only sponsored 422 delegates, for which N2.7 billion was incurred in airfares and estacode spending, it was a charge against public treasury that was practically indefensible.
The announced 60 per cent slash in the number of those accompanying the above categories of public officials on any given trip is welcome. For foreign travels, only 20 people will be in the president's entourage while five persons each will accompany the VP, First Lady and wife of the VP. On local trips, only 25 persons will travel with the president. The same cuts affect the domestic travels of the other officials mentioned.
With the new arrangement, the massive security details from Abuja that follow the president on local travels have been curtailed, as security personnel - military, police, State Security Service (SSS) and others - in the hosting state, will be saddled with his security in the main. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, in his clarification of the decision, said those days of government wastages, and officials behaving differently from what the Presidency is asking Nigerians to do in tightening their belt, are over.
But the reduction should not be limited to the number of entourage; very critical too are the number of foreign trips to avoid matching former President Muhammadu Buhari's infamous record. He had visited 40 countries as of the end of December 2022, with little or nothing to show for these cruises. In the first seven months of Tinubu's administration, a total of 16 official trips to France, United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Guinea Bissau, India, and China, among others, were made by him and the vice-president, spanning 91 days. The cost imperatives of these trips are undoubtedly huge.
As welcome a development as the presidential initiative is, it is our considered view that the move only scratches the surface of what is decidedly a monstrosity each administration has embroiled itself in. Therefore, Tinubu's action will tick all the right boxes if he goes the whole hog by implementing the Steven Oronsanye report on the restructuring of the MDAs. That will by far be a more structural, effective and enduring response to the fiscal recklessness in governance that knows no bounds.
The Oronsaye report had observed that "There are 541 government parastatals, commissions and agencies in the country," in the 800-page document, with many of them having overlapping or duplicated functions. As a result, it recommended that 263 of the statutory agencies should be reduced to 161; 38 agencies should be abolished; 52 be merged, and 14 others should revert to being departments in their relevant ministries. Unfortunately, the farthest both the Jonathan and Buhari administrations went on the report was the issuance of White Papers. The conundrum is more complicated now with the irrational creation of not less than 100 additional MDAs since 2012 by the legislature and the executive arm of government, according to one tally.
With his administration's demonstrable capacity to bite the bullet, the implementation of the Oronsaye report is a must for the president. Analysts have pointed out that by taking this plunge, the government will save hundreds of billions of naira annually, address the phenomenon of ghost workers, bloated workforce and inject into the civil service a result-oriented and service-delivery mentality, without which public policies would not work.
An economy in the morass of fiscal distress, and a country with more than 133 million people multidimensionally poor, need a president who pays attention to the granular details of public expenditure. The president appears to have realised this late. This explains why the 2024 budget has expenditure items and illegalities that even contradict the new prudence signalling. Evidence abounds that some agencies are unhinged in their budgetary proposals and spending. This should be checked.
The president should ensure that he does not close the stable door after the horse has bolted next year, which the new tendency suggests. He is in his eighth month in office. A government with a prudent bent now should be at odds with the N57.6 billion spent on lawmakers' Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs); N6 billion for the construction of a new car park; N5 billion for a yacht; N2.9 billion for the procurement of more SUVs for the presidential villa and N2.9 billion to replace operational vehicles in the same place; and the renovation of the President and Vice President's official quarters with N13.5 billion, amid mass hunger and poverty in the land.
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A country with a N9.18 trillion budget deficit, and N87 trillion debt profile, for which it spends about 96 per cent of its revenue to service, deserves a seismic shift away from profligate public spending. Tinubu has no reason to continue to maintain the large presidential air fleet he inherited, which will gulp N12.5 billion this year. He should cut it, just as the long convoys of public office holders, which harass and intimidate road users, will be antithetical to the message his entourage reduction conveys.
Since reckless spending of public funds permeates all levels of government, state governors, some of whom act as emperors, pocket state assemblies, travel with caravans of 20 vehicles or more, should begin to tighten their belts too. Nigeria once had a governor who used to travel alone to Abuja, carried his handbag and called on the Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to provide security details when he landed. All just to save costs!
Ultimately, a sustainable cost-cutting governance strategy is not to scratch it, but to scotch it!
