Goodluck Jonathan The Wasteful President -TheNEWS Magazine

By Ayorinde Oluokun

Not only is the presidential system
of government expensively
operated by Nigeria, President
Goodluck Jonathan has
demosntrated that he’ll rather take
the culture of waste a notch higher.
As the director-general of the
Bureau of Public Enterprises,
minister of Federal Capital Territory
and member of the country’s
Economic Management Team, at
different times from 1999 to 2007,
Malam Nasir el-Rufai was a key
member of the administration of
former President Olusegun
Obasanjo. He now writes a weekly,
widely syndicated column in which
he has ruffled not a few feathers in
the past few months. About three
weeks ago, el-Rufai turned his
attention to the pains and gains of
Nigerians from the country’s 13-
year democratic government.
Jonathan: Not ready to cut the high
cost of governance.
The former minister noted that
Nigerians were convinced 15 years
ago that democracy, anchored on
fair elections, the rule of law and
good governance, is better that
military rule. But his verdict on the
country’s democracy, especially
those who have been the key
operators in the past 13 years, was
not a cheery one. “It seems that in
13 years, we have forgotten all that
and we seem to have mostly evil
emperors at the helm that are more
banal than the military dictators,
but far less competent in
governing,” said the former
minister. To be sure, el-Rufai did not
say Nigerians have not derived any
benefit from democratic
governance. But his grouse was that
there have been so many
opportunities for transformation lost
by the successive civilian
administrations since 1999 as a
result of corruption, wasteful
spending and sheer incompetence
on the part of those who have
presided over the country. He noted
that this has especially been the
case since 2007 with the inception
of the Umaru Yar’Adua
administration. While el-Rufai
agreed that the administration he
was a key member of was less than
perfect, he, however, noted that it
left enough for its successor to build
upon when it left office in 2007.
“By 2007, the Yar’Adua-Jonathan
government inherited vast foreign
reserves ($43bn), on-going power
projects (NIPP-$5bn), new rail
systems, from Lagos to Kano ($8bn)
and Abuja Metro ($800 million); an
Excess Crude Account, ECA, ($27bn)
– in short, a basis to hit the ground
running, complete on-going
projects, initiate new ones and
continue addressing Nigeria’s
infrastructure deficits. Alas, after $
200bn had been earned and spent,
that did not happen. What
happened?” el-Rufai queried.
Of course, the former minister
knows what happened. The funds
have been squandered by
successors of the Obasanjo
administration, while government is
struggling to revive most of the
projects. A lot has been written on
how the $27 billion in the ECA was
depleted between 2007 and 2011
as the governors of the 36 states
put pressure on the ailing President
Yar’Adua and later, President
Jonathan, to draw from the funds to
augment their monthly allocation
from the Federation Account. In
December 2010, for instance, the
governors put pressure on then
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan
to withdraw $1 billion to augment
the sum of N783 billion shared out
to the three levels of government
for the month. Dr. Jonathan, who
then needed support to secure the
ticket of his party, Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, to contest in
the presidential election, was ever
so willing to do the bidding of the
state chief executives.
“Over the ensuing four years, the
federation earned another $180
billion from oil and gas, import
duties and taxes. By 2011, all these
resources had been wasted with
little to show for it. The excess crude
account had been run down to less
than $1 billion, the reserves drawn
down to about $35 billion and none
of the rail and power infrastructure
projects completed,” Femi Orebe, a
columnist with a national
newspaper, noted.
With the election of Dr. Jonathan
and his promise of transformation,
many Nigerians had believed that
such culture of waste would become
a thing of the past. But events in
the past one year seem to confirm
that the President’s promise of
transformation may not be in the
area of cutting wasteful spending. In
fact, the administration, in the past
one year has been especially visible
in its large travelling contingents,
indiscriminate setting up of
committees, huge budgetary
allocations to Aso Rock Presidential
Villa, stealthily conducted media
campaigns and depletion of funds in
various specialised accounts of the
federal government. There have
been questions over the high
number of government ministers
and presidential aides for example.
Many Nigerians insist that the over
40 ministers and the increasing
retinue of growing Special
Assistants and Advisers, most of
who are redundant, were a waste of
public funds. Two weeks ago, the
President appointed a new Special
Assistant on Youth Affairs, and Dr.
Doyin Okupe as his new Senior
Special Assistant on Public Affairs.
The President already had a Special
Adviser on Media and Strategy and
another Special Adviser on New
Media, who has been derisively
tagged special adviser on Twitter
and Facebook matters to the
President.
While querying the number of aides
appointed by President Jonathan
and their designations, Obong
Effanga, Governance Coordinator,
ActionAid Nigeria, noted that there
are too many duplications in the
jobs assigned to the appointees. On
the appointment of Dr. Tunji
Olagunju as Special Adviser to the
President on NEPAD and Dr. Pius
Olakunle Osunyikanmi as Special
Adviser to the President on
International Relations, Effanga
noted: “Apparently, these two
offices could have been handled by
a single person. Besides, why do we
have to appoint a special adviser to
the president on these when there
is a ministry of foreign affairs with
more than one minister, permanent
secretary, directors and possibly a
department in charge of NEPAD?”
Some of the appointees and their
portfolios, he added, are even
downright ridiculous. “Mrs. Sarah
Akuben Pane, Special Adviser to the
President on Social Development.
One is too stumped to even
comment on this. Mrs. Sarah Jibril,
Special Adviser to the President on
Ethics and Values. What a joke!
Who even monitors what, if any,
work some of these appointees have
been carrying out?” wondered
Effanga, who added that the special
advisers “would ordinarily have their
own personal assistants and other
aides”.
The President had also come under
fierce criticism late last year after he
submitted the 2012 Appropriation
bill to the National Assembly
following what many saw as huge,
unnecessary and frivolous
allocations for the National
Assembly. Jonathan had in the bill
proposed to spend N477 million for
“foodstuffs and catering materials
supplies” for the President’s office,
and another N293 million for
refreshment and meals for his office
and home.
Also in the same budget, N45.4
million was set aside to be used for
purchasing kitchen equipment for
the President’s house. Vice-
President Namadi Sambo’s
refreshment and meals, as
contained in the proposal, were to
cost N20.8 million; N104 million was
allocated for the VP’s foodstuffs,
catering and material supplies,
while he will spend another N6.2
million on cooking fuel. On vehicles,
the Presidency, also in the budget
proposal, allocated N280 million for
two Mercedes Benz armoured S-
guard vehicles, N144 million for
assorted utility vehicles, N18 million
on Toyota Hiace bus, and N77
million on other cars to be added to
the presidential fleet. The President
suspended the procurement of the
vehicles following controversy
generated in the media over the
issue. But the feeding budget of
N947 million, the most controversial
of the allocations, was only reduced
to N857 million, which many
Nigerians say did not go far enough.
The Senate Committee on Public
Accounts has also been
investigating the withdrawal of
billions of naira from the Natural
Resources Account of the Federal
Government. The account is funded
through allocation of 3 per cent of
funds accruing to the Federation
The fund is expected to aid the
three tiers of government to
develop the natural resources in
their areas as a means of
diversifying the nation’s revenue.
But the Senate Committee’s
investigation of the management of
the account revealed that it has
virtually been turned into a slush
fund by the Jonathan
administration.
Investigations by the Committee, as
reported by Abuja-based Daily Trust
newspaper, revealed that from
March to October 2010, the
Jonathan administration sourced
various sums used for funding
things completely outside what the
account was meant for. The
withdrawals, mostly taken in form of
loans to the federal government,
include N57.59 billion for the
payment of monetisation arrears for
staff of the Power Holding Company
of Nigeria, N70 billion loan to the
Consolidated Revenue Fund to
accelerate capital budget releases,
N10.7billion for funding of fertiliser
revolving account and N4.3 billion
withdrawals to fund reversal of
excess crude distribution.
“The cumulative balance in the
account as at June 30, 2012 is
N171.9 billion. Releases from the
fund are based on approvals from
Mr. President. In some instances,
the Federal Government does
borrow from the fund, which is
promptly paid back,” Danladi Kifasi,
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry
of Finance, who said a total of
N873.4 billion had accrued into the
account over the years but was
depleted by N701.48 billion, told
the Senate Committee.
Yet, another recent report revealed
how the sum of N36 billion in the
Stabilisation Account was depleted
to N11 billion in five months
spanning January to May 2011. The
account, which is funded by 0.5 per
cent of funds accruing to the
Federation Account, had a balance
of about N120 billion in August
2010 but was depleted to N37
billion by October 14 of the same
year. Withdrawals from the fund
between January and May 2011
include N400 million funding for the
activities of FAAC, N242 million, N33
million and another N32 all
withdrawn and “granted as loan to
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) for
purchase of vehicles for UN peace
keeping in Haiti – 1st instalment”,
as contained in government’s
memo quoted by The Punch
newspaper on the issue. There are
other frivolous expenses, including
the withdrawal of N150 million
through five memos on the same
day.
“It is a pity that Nigerians have
signed a prodigal nation. The
country is broke because the PDP
regime has emptied all the
treasuries. The same government
has depleted our foreign reserve,
excess crude account and now
stabilisation account. The country is
broke, that is why we are being
forced to buy new driver’s licence,
new plate numbers and worst of all,
pay N145 for petrol litre,” said Yinka
Odumakin, spokesperson for former
head of state, General Muhammadu
Buhari. Government debts have also
witnessed a massive rise: to over
N11.2 trillion total domestic debt,
while external debt now stands at
US$4 billion.

To promotes freedom of expression and right to contrary opinion, views expressed by Authors does not necesarily reflect the views of the blogger.

To promotes freedom of expression and right to contrary opinion, views expressed by Authors does not necesarily reflect the views of the blogger.

To promotes freedom of expression and right to contrary opinion, views expressed by Authors does not necesarily reflect the views of the blogger.