By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo
A former Governor of Kano State, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, has said only a courageous and God-fearing leader can lead the call to reduce cost of governance.
He said the situation will remain the same or even worse if Nigerians believe that the current 469 members of the National Assembly with 103 standing committees with their retinue can make a change.
Shekarau who was a guest speaker at the 12th Annual Symposium of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), B-Zone, held in Osogbo over the weekend expressed doubt about the courage of President Bola Tinubu to implement the Orosanye report that had been abandoned by former presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking on “Navigating Nigeria’s Democratic Path Through Constructive Review,” Shekarau said, “Without changing the structural setup, there is no way you can reduce the cost of government.”
He said, “It will take a lot of time to amend the constitution. Who is to amend it? The amendment begins with the national assembly. Do you think 469 of them will sit down and say cancel two chambers and reduce it to one chamber?
“We need a courageous political leader to take it up. I’m looking for a president who will do that. In the Ministry of Education where I was a Minister, we have 23 parastatals.
“The democracy imposed on us by the military is too costly and too expensive. Having been to the National Assembly, I’ve seen the waste which I’m bold to say is my opinion, we do not need two chambers with 469 people. In the Senate, there are 73 committees. Each committee is to supervise about 30 ministries of government agencies. The minimum any Senator will belong to five committees. Some have seven and some have eight.
“Also, in the House of Representatives, they have 130 committees. The same kind of nomenclature in the Senate. If a budget defense is done in the education. The ministry will come to the Senate Committee on Education with bulky papers to defend the budget. The next day, they will move to the House Committee on Education in the House of Representatives to do the same thing with all the bulky papers. Each of the committees has a minimum of seven staff at the secretariat. Every senator and rep member has the entitlement of employing five staff to work for them.
“Unless we get a Godly-minded leader. You can see many people agitating for a cut in the cost of government. Without changing the structural setup, there is no way you can reduce the cost of government.
“We have over 500 parastatals under the federal government, duplication. For example, what are EFCC, ICPC, and Code of Conduct doing differently? They are just duplicating.
“The Orosanye report was constituted by Jonathan. Jonathan himself was unable to implement the reports. Buhari came, but he was unable to implement the report and I doubt if Tinubu will be able to do it because once you are there, you are intimidated by the coworkers and political party. If you are to reduce them, you are reducing the number of Chief Executives, you are reducing the number of boards and parastatals.
“Put political party aside, this government has increased the number of ministries, what for? What is the road safety doing that a traffic department of the police is not doing? The SSS was a special arm of the police. Up till today, the investigative unit of the police don’t wear a uniform. The DSS is supposed to be hidden, but today, it is branded in the jacket they wear wherever they go. When you expose yourself, what intelligence are you going to get?”
The Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Mutiu Agboke, commended the MSSN for organising the symposium, saying that government should not end with voting.
The Zonal Amir of MSSN, B-Zone, Qaasim Odedeji, explained that the theme: Reshaping the Past for the Future,” was carefully chosen to remind the political officeholders of the need to govern with justice and fairness.