By this time next week, General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) will become President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB). Since he will transmute from being GMB to PMB, let me play a pun on the new tag of PMB by sending my ‘Change wish list’ to his private mail bag, albeit publicly. I do so in my capacity as a proud holder of the ‘Office of the Citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’, the highest and most important office in Nigeria. The list is a very simple one, focusing on governance issues. It requires clear steps to be taken by the new administration to save us some of the problems we face as a country, especially since 1999. Here we go.
I call on President Buhari to limit the number of political appointees to the barest minimum. To be honest, we don’t need more than 20 ministers of government. However, having regard to the provision of the Constitution, I will ask that he limits this to 37 ministers. He should not appoint more than 10 special advisers by whatever nomenclature. I submit that many of the governance and administrative duties carried out by some of the large retinue of aides of government officials could be effectively carried out by senior civil servants in those ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), and that would even be carried out in a professional manner.
The president should ensure that there are specific job titles and descriptions to all officers of government, to avoid overlaps and thus cut inefficiency. The government should streamline the functions of different agencies that overlap at the moment. PMB needs to pick out a few tips from the recommendations in the Orasanye Panel Report which is in the presidency and I believe should form part of the hand-over notes/briefings he will get from President Goodluck Jonathan.
Experience shows that it is easier to prevent corruption than investigate, prosecute and punish infringements. The government must commit to implementing and strengthening the existing mechanisms for preventing corruption, to reduce the level of corruption. This includes ensuring that proper audits are carried out when due and the reports of such audits implemented. PMB must work closely with the legislature to do more with the reports of the Auditor-General, to ensure that sanctions are carried out as appropriate.
It also follows that the Auditor-General’s office has to be reformed in a way that builds the confidence of the head and all the auditors, that their professionalism would not be compromised or they made to suffer for whistle-blowing. This above should be done along with the proper prosecution, to its logical conclusion, of all cases of corruption that have remained in court for many years. We need to speed up and conclude the prosecutions for corruption that started in 2007 against many of the former state governors.
Still on the issue of cost of governance, the new president should show leadership by ensuring a drastic reduction in the budget of the presidency and by extension the executive arm, so as to be on the right moral platform to request similar reduction from the other arms. PMB can start by reducing the number of aircraft in the presidential fleet. Reports indicate that there are currently between nine and 11 such aircraft. I opine that our country does not need more than three of such aircraft. He must see to the offloading of the excess aircraft and pay similar attention to the number of other facilities such as vehicles of government as well as those assigned to government officials.
A situation where the government provides too many vehicles to an official, such that some of the vehicles are put to the use of the official’s family members, as though they were state officials, must stop. Let every paid official and worker be responsible for organising their families and their transportation needs, and not pass such the public coffers.
I have severally canvassed against government getting involved in the private affairs of citizens. One of such is the issue of pilgrimages. While citizens should be allowed the right to practise their religions and while government can do well to protect the welfare of their citizens wherever they are, I believe that can still be done without government getting involved in pilgrimage arrangements. This is because, currently, the country is being haemorrhaged through the pilgrimages by both Christians and Muslims. What is more, this has become a colossal waste of state resources on the elite class or for currying political favours by those in government.
