Wanted: A slimmer template for governance

The cost of governance in Nigeria has been the subject of heated debates by financial experts, politicians, religious leaders and others since the return to democratic governance in 1999. I remember that a few years ago, Chief Peter Obi, former Anambra State Governor and Rt Rev. Adebayo Akinde, the then Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Lagos Mainland on an occasion, decried the huge cost of governance in the
country.
Obi said there was a need for government at all levels to reduce the cost of governance and redirect the funds to socio-economic development. Obi posited that, “we cannot continue to spend our scarce resources to finance unnecessary consumption and pile up huge national debts. We must increase savings and generate resources to provide public amenities.” Obi then advised the Federal Government to complete the deregulation and unbundling of the power sector and find a lasting solution to the electricity problem.
On his part, Bishop Akinde said the cost of governance in the country was high and had left little resources for infrastructural development. He said, “The cost of governance in Nigeria is disproportionately high relative to productivity. We have a long list of ministers, special advisers, and special assistants with high remuneration.” Akinde called on governments to demonstrate the political will to cut down overhead costs, tackle terrorism and fix the power
sector.
And, at the Annual Capital Market Committee retreat in Warri, Delta State some years ago, the then governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, now the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, called for a reduction in the cost of governance in the country. He said “at the moment, 70 percent of the Federal Government’s revenue goes for payment of salaries and entitlement of civil servants, leaving 30 percent for development of 167 million Nigerians. That means that for every naira government earns, 70 kobo is consumed by civil servants.”
Also, the cost managing the economy formed part of the speech of the then Chairman of Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Foluso Phillips. He told dignitaries at the Nigeria Economic Summit (NES 18) in Abuja a few years ago that the cost of managing the Nigerian economy was larger than its productive base. According
to him, “We cannot defend an unsustainable situation. We cannot sustain this model. We all have to fix this problem faster than we are currently addressing it.”
He said “the current reality surrounding the cost of managing the country presents a situation where the three million or so people who work for the federal, states and local government, not forgetting the legislature, consume about 70 percent of the annual budget on salaries, allowances and overheads, while the rest of the 160 million odd Nigerians depend on the balance of 30 percent to provide the infrastructure, education, health and other services which most governments have a responsibility for.”
Again, when Emir Sanusi pointed out this aberration to the National Assembly, he was criticised. But Nigerians now know that he was saying the truth about the cost of governance in Nigeria.  Nigerians now know that the cost of governance in Nigeria is unsustainable in the long run. They also now know that the President, Governors, local government chairmen, ministers and even commissioners in the states with their long retinue of aides, not to talk about members of the National Assembly and the State Assemblies and their several aides, are sucking this country dry. Something must therefore be done to this unsustainable cost of governance in Nigeria.
Chief Obi is certainly a witness of truth, having been Governor of Anambra State for some years and showed example of how to lead the people. Obi never travelled within or outside Nigeria with a retinue of aides. Even when going to Abuja from Enugu, he would go alone and carry his travelling bag by himself. Obi said that “the cost of governance in Nigeria is disproportionately high relative to productivity. We have a long list of ministers, special advisers, and special assistants with high remuneration.”
Don’t be surprised that many state governors have over 300 aides who draw salaries from the coffers of the state. Some governors in the South-South have more than 500 aides who must be paid far more than N50, 000 each as salaries per month.  Then, there are the security votes and sundry expenses
run by the state governors and the President.
If we think of how many states that vote as much as N100 million monthly for security, which is not accounted for, then we know that this country
has a lot of problems waiting to be solved
one day.