At least seven people have been reported killed in the aftermath of two explosions near the area where official celebrations were being held marking the 50th anniversary of the independence of the West African state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Viewpoints Nov 12, 2010
Nigeria Vanguard
His roadmap on the way to go
A nation can only advance forward in the provision of pow-er, infrastructure, water supply, and security and as well revolutionise the state of agriculture, housing, education, health and employment, if there is Corporate Social Responsibility in governance. But from events and observations hereunder, it is not practicable for us to do so.
i) The Energy Information Administration of the United States Department of Energy indicates that Nigeria earned $48 billion from January to September this year, far outstripping projections for the year but has not been accounted for.
ii) It really boggles the mind that the country should be talking about engaging in borrowing at this critical period when there is an abundance of resources at her disposal.
This is probably why the House of Representatives threw out the proposal from the Presidency to take a loan of $4.4 billion, purportedly to take care of certain “critical infrastructure”.
iii) Nigeria’s debt is currently put by the Debt Management Office at $29 billion, out of which $25 billion is domestic debt. The Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, explains that the country must borrow because the level of debt is still low. But must we borrow for the sake of borrowing? What kind of “critical infrastructure” does the government plan to provide that cannot be done without borrowing?
How the government spent the $48 billion reportedly earned from oil this year is what Nigerians should be interested in for now.
i) Where has the money disappeared to; when the roads in every part of the country are in a most deplorable state?
ii) What has happened to the $48 billion if the power situation in the country has still not improved?
iii) How can we justify earning that kind of money when the rail system has remained in the same primitive state as when the colonial masters left the country more that 50 years ago?
iv) How can a country that has earned that amount of money and has been consistently reaping generously over the past 10 years justify the fact that only 17 percent of the people have access to clean drinking water?
v) What is happening to the education system where lecturers in parts of the country have been on strike now for the past 93 days?
vi) What is happening to the state of health care where cholera has killed more than 1,500 people?
vii) How can the country contemplate borrowing when even the funds earned so far have not been properly accounted for or disbursed?
viii) Why can’t the Nigerian government be thinking along that line of the advanced countries like the United States and Britain by cutting cost of governance?
ix) Why has the government not taken a look at the various areas of waste and how to cut back on such waste?
x) Why has the excess Crude Oil been distributed to the States when the Nation is in distress from power supply, education, agriculture, health and unemployment at a time when the people cannot be assured that the funds will be used for any other purpose other than politics?
xi) Why is Nigeria still selling crude and not refined oil?
xii) Why is it not surprising that more than four months after the renowned academic, Prof. Itse Sagay, revealed the huge sums of money that the legislators were earning, nothing has been done about it?
Sagay told Nigerians that the country’s political office holders were the highest paid in the world. He went on to state that the President of the Senate, for instance, was earning about N88 million a month, while other senators earned as much as N240 million per annum (about $1.7 million).
Are these not critical areas that must be reviewed, especially when compared to the fact that the American President earns $400,000 per annum and the British Prime Minister is on a salary of £190,000 a year. Money saved here could be ploughed into infrastructure development and power generation for industries, schools, hospitals, court of justices and leisure.
All the government firms that have failed to deliver, including the moribund refineries, Ajaokuta Steel Company, Power Holding Company of Nigeria and Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, should be resuscitated with the assistance of the World Bank and its subsidiary World Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
There is also the need to expand the revenue base of the country. It is a shame that 50 years after independence, the country still relies on oil for more than 90 percent of her external earnings. What happens to solid minerals and agricultural products which used to be big income earners in the early days of independence?
Road maps for Nigeria which shall consist of the following reforms
From the foregoing, the following recommendations are apparent and imperative:-
i) Amendment of the 1999 Federal Constitution to reflect the Federal Character of the Nation as expatiated upon by Tafawa Balewa in one of his speeches to the National Assembly during his tenure of office in July 1958.
In an analysis of the our normal budget by the writer, it is established that 82.6% of the current expenditure in any budget year is spent on travelling and salaries; but when the current expenditure on salaries and travelling in the 36 states of the federation are added, the figure of 92.8% is realised as Recurrent Expenditure for Salaries and Travelling in any one year; a burden which the Nation cannot sustain if we have to develop.
ii) The concentration of power in the Federal Government, especially in the agriculture, land tenure system, forestry etc is not in our National interest as Nigeria is a creation of the States and not vis-à-vis;
iii) The pursuit of corruption and the law relating thereto must be amended and entrusted to the Judiciary in order to enhance operational efficiency. The establishment of a Corrupt Practices Court is therefore imperative.
iv) The Central Bank should assume full responsibility for the custody, control and management of the funds of the Federation. The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) should be enhanced so that its functions are not duplicated in the Central Bank of Nigeria;
v) The duties of Power Holding Company of Nigeria Plc (PHCN) should be amended to include “transmission” as no foreign investor will participate in the generation of power and thereafter transfer it to the Federal Government. Business is never conducted in that way in any part of the World.
vi) The Ecological Fund in the Constitution should be amended to include the protection of water resources in Nigeria so as to put an end to the present health hazards facing the citizens of the country because of the lack of good water supply and electricity.
Chief D. O. Dafinone, OFR
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