Civil Society Groups Fault Nigerian Govt’s Austerity Measures
Written by Chijioke Nelson
Nigerian Guardian
THE Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have faulted Federal Government’s intention to embark on austerity measures, describing the move as cosmetic.
Besides, the groups said majority of Nigerians have never had a free-flowing moments as jobless youths scamper around and greater percentage of the working class are inadequately paid while the economic situation bites harder.
The Lead Director of Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Eze Onyekpere, representing the groups, who spoke with journalists on the sidelines of the fiscal governance tribunal organised in Lagos yesterday, said the cost-saving strategy of the Federal Government, as unveiled by the Minister of Finance, would require leadership by example.
He said the whole essence of the fiscal governance tribunal is to get Nigerians from all walks of life - professionals and civil society groups - to come together and relate their experiences of the nation’s fiscal governance in terms of budgeting, contracting and fiscal information and the aggregation of these thoughts will enable them to come up with a statement on the feelings of Nigerians and areas that government needs to reform further.
“The austerity measures of the Federal Government looks cosmetic because we have been talking about economic diversification and plugging of revenue leakages to no avail.
“To test this cost saving measures, we would be waiting to see if the National Assembly will agree to take less than N150 billion this year; if the President cuts down on the number of aircraft, currently 10; if the retinue of aides and special assistants will be reduced; and if manipulations in the budget items through ambiguous sub-heads and repetitions, together with all manner of corruption will be reduced. It is then we will know that they are serious with the austerity measures.
“I still don’t think that the common man on the street has once been out of the austerity measure. When the price of oil was high, we did not partake of the spoil. Now that the system has upturned, they are the ones that should join in the austerity measures. All those award-winning officials, who do not have anything worth it to present, are the ones that should now explain how the windfall was mismanaged,” he said.
Speaking on the essence of the forum, he said that this is just one gathering, like CSJ has consistently done in other geo-political zones - Abuja, Owerri, Kano, Sokoto, among others, hoping that it will add a little push to enthroning fiscal prudence and accountability in the country.
Onyekpere, while speaking on the need for the autonomy of the local councils, said that continuous imposition of the state on them has led to backwardness in grassroots development.
He further said: “As of now, each local council of the federation has received nothing less than N30 billion since 1999 on average. I stand to be corrected that if N5 billion of the total amount has been judiciously applied to the course of development in my local council, there would have been a visible development.
“For example, in Ngor Okpala Local Council of Imo State, if they had stolen N25 billion out of the N30 billion and put N5 billion to work, the face of the council would have changed. Unfortunately, they stole all. We did not see anything apart from the few people that earned salary there. We cannot continue to allow those who arrogate ‘Excellency’ to their name to be stealing us blind.”
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| Eze Onyekpere is the director of the Center for Social Justice (CSJ). |
Nigerian Guardian
THE Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have faulted Federal Government’s intention to embark on austerity measures, describing the move as cosmetic.
Besides, the groups said majority of Nigerians have never had a free-flowing moments as jobless youths scamper around and greater percentage of the working class are inadequately paid while the economic situation bites harder.
The Lead Director of Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Eze Onyekpere, representing the groups, who spoke with journalists on the sidelines of the fiscal governance tribunal organised in Lagos yesterday, said the cost-saving strategy of the Federal Government, as unveiled by the Minister of Finance, would require leadership by example.
He said the whole essence of the fiscal governance tribunal is to get Nigerians from all walks of life - professionals and civil society groups - to come together and relate their experiences of the nation’s fiscal governance in terms of budgeting, contracting and fiscal information and the aggregation of these thoughts will enable them to come up with a statement on the feelings of Nigerians and areas that government needs to reform further.
“The austerity measures of the Federal Government looks cosmetic because we have been talking about economic diversification and plugging of revenue leakages to no avail.
“To test this cost saving measures, we would be waiting to see if the National Assembly will agree to take less than N150 billion this year; if the President cuts down on the number of aircraft, currently 10; if the retinue of aides and special assistants will be reduced; and if manipulations in the budget items through ambiguous sub-heads and repetitions, together with all manner of corruption will be reduced. It is then we will know that they are serious with the austerity measures.
“I still don’t think that the common man on the street has once been out of the austerity measure. When the price of oil was high, we did not partake of the spoil. Now that the system has upturned, they are the ones that should join in the austerity measures. All those award-winning officials, who do not have anything worth it to present, are the ones that should now explain how the windfall was mismanaged,” he said.
Speaking on the essence of the forum, he said that this is just one gathering, like CSJ has consistently done in other geo-political zones - Abuja, Owerri, Kano, Sokoto, among others, hoping that it will add a little push to enthroning fiscal prudence and accountability in the country.
Onyekpere, while speaking on the need for the autonomy of the local councils, said that continuous imposition of the state on them has led to backwardness in grassroots development.
He further said: “As of now, each local council of the federation has received nothing less than N30 billion since 1999 on average. I stand to be corrected that if N5 billion of the total amount has been judiciously applied to the course of development in my local council, there would have been a visible development.
“For example, in Ngor Okpala Local Council of Imo State, if they had stolen N25 billion out of the N30 billion and put N5 billion to work, the face of the council would have changed. Unfortunately, they stole all. We did not see anything apart from the few people that earned salary there. We cannot continue to allow those who arrogate ‘Excellency’ to their name to be stealing us blind.”
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