Central
Bank of Nigeria Governor Mallam Sanusi Lamido on Tuesday lamented the
high cost of servicing the nation’s civil service and called on the
Federal Government to fire at least 50 per cent of its entire workforce.
Sanusi,
in his presentation at the Second Annual Capital Market Committee
Retreat in Warri, Delta State, said the country spends 70 per cent of
its earnings on salaries and entitlements of civil servants.
He
argued that having the Federal Government’s staff strength reduced by
half would free up capital for infrastructure development in the country
and buoy the economy.
The
CBN governor had in a lecture last year claimed that 25 per cent of
the overheads of the Federal Government budget went to the National
Assembly.
“Twenty
five per cent of the overhead of the Federal Government budget goes to
National Assembly. I have figures from the office of budget for the year
2010. Total government overhead is N536, 268,49, 280. Total overhead of
the National Assembly is N136,259,768, 112 which is exactly 25.1 per
cent of Federal Government overhead. The overhead of the National
Assembly as a percentage of the Federal Government budget in 2009 was
19. 87 and in 2008 was 14.19”, he had said.
Sanusi,
at the retreat on Tuesday, advocated a more compact and less expensive
system of government that would reduce overhead costs.
He
said, “At the moment 70 per cent of Federal Government’s revenue goes
for payment of salaries and entitlement of civil servants, leaving 30
per cent for development of 167 million Nigerians. That means that for
every naira government earns, 70 kobo is consumed by civil servants.
“You
have to fire half of the civil service because the revenue of the
government is supposed to be for 167 million Nigerians. Any society
where government spends 70 per cent of its revenue on its civil service
has a problem. It is unsustainable.
“The
various tiers of government should cut down their recurrent expenditure
and use the fund to provide basic infrastructure like schools,
hospital, etc.
“How
can we be using the proceeds from our major source of revenue to
service recurrent expenditure, by paying salaries, allowances, etc. The
country should be thinking of enhancing its productivity base rather
than spending on things that cannot create wealth.”
Sanusi
added that the country did not need over 100 senators, 400 members
of the House of Representatives to make laws. He said when the expenses
of lawmakers, civil servants and those in the executive arm of
government are totalled, Nigerians will find out that their national
revenue has been consumed by the Executive, lawmakers and civil
servants.
He
also faulted ‘wastage’ of funds on the maintenance of 774 Local
Government Area chairmen, their aides, councillors and other
appendages of the third tier of government.
“Do
we need 774 LGAs? Do we need 36 states some of which are not viable?
why not just remove them and have only state governments?,” he asked
rhethorically.
According
to him, “there are state governors whose monthly allocations are barely
enough to pay salaries. I hear such governors complain and I say ‘why
complain when the solution is simple?’ It is irresponsible to use all
your money to pay salaries and wait for another month’s allocation and
pay salaries and after four years, you would have done nothing.”
Sanusi
also maintained that the Federal Government needed to totally remove
petrol subsidy. He suggested that those who stole subsidy funds
should be punished. He said, “People have the right to demand
transparency. If you want to remove subsidy, you have to show what
happened to those who stole.”
The
CBN governor advised the Federal Government to stop investments on
infrastructure that could be handed over to the private sector to
run so that it (FG) can concentrate on building of schools, health
centres and the provision of other social services.
But Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was also at the event, faulted Sanusi’s call for a purge of civil service.
Although
the governor agreed that there was the need to cut expenditure, he
said, “If we must do that, then we should provide alternatives where
the sacked workers can become economically viable.
“The
reason why we are asking the Federal Government to provide basic
infrastructure and enabling environment for private investors to invest
is because they can employ workers who will be disengaged from public
sector.
“Therefore,
I don’t agree with the CBN governor that we should sack our workers to
reduce the recurrent expenditure in our budget without providing
alternatives.”
Punch Nigeria
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