Cost of governance: Restructure Nigeria into six regions, Budget Office tells FG. by Tunde Ajaja, Tope Omogbolagun and Kayode Oyero

Ben Akabueze Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze The Budget Office of the Federation has said restructuring Nigeria into six regions is pivotal to reducing the high cost of governance. It noted that the number of ministers also needs to be pruned and the number of political office holders and their aides reduced, lamenting that the huge recurrent expenditure had constrained the provision of good roads, steady power supply, health care services, quality education and quality shelter etc. This, it said, had contributed to observable underperformance of the economy, slow growth and current infrastructural challenges. These recommendations were contained in a report by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission at its Third National Summit on diminishing corruption in the public sector, held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja on Tuesday. The event, with the theme, ‘Corruption and cost of governance: New imperatives for fiscal transparency’, was attended by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Mohammed; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed and the Chairman of ICPC, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye (SAN), among others. The ICPC report referenced the Budget Office as blaming the high cost of governance on bloated cabinet size, high cost of elections, corrupt budget practices, multiplicity of Ministries Departments and Agencies and high number of political office holders and their aides. It said a direct result of the expensive governance structure was that less than 30 per cent of Federal Government’s resources were available to fund the much needed capital projects. However, the Budget Office, according to the document, recommended that government should “prioritise completion of ongoing projects, restructure Nigeria into six regions and reduce the number of ministers, and build a more efficient civil service and conduct periodic staff audit.” It added that “MDAs should consider government fiscal position in reviewing salaries, adopt a cost- effective electoral system and limit the number of aides of political office holders.” While highlighting the drivers of the high cost of governance, the document quoted the Budget Office as saying that Nigeria has a large cabinet with 27 ministers, 16 ministers of state and 27 ministries, adding that MDAs raise their personnel cost by engaging in indiscriminate recruitment without clearance from the Budget Office. Nigeria has about 934 MDAs with duplicated functions and 541 public corporations and enterprises. It noted further that high cost of elections and resultant litigation contribute to the high cost of governance in Nigeria and that the current structure/size of the federal bureaucracy was clearly unsustainable for the size of the economy. “The high number of political office holders and their aides also adds to the high cost of governance,” it added. The Budget Office lamented that personnel cost for the past three years gulped N9.7tn, adding that cost of governance had generally been on the rise and personnel costs represent significant proportion of the spending. According to the report, MDAs’ recurrent spending rose from N3.61tn in 2015 to N5.26tn in 2018 and N7.91tn in 2020. This excludes the costs of government-owned enterprises and transfers to the National Assembly and the National Judicial Council. “Recurrent spending accounted for 40 per cent of actual recurrent spending in 2020 while overhead was just three per cent. Cost of governance has generally been on the rise and personnel costs represent a significant proportion of the spending,” it added. The President, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and several other leaders had repeatedly stated the need to reduce the cost of governance, but not much has been done to actualise it. Meanwhile, there has been an increasing public clamour for restructuring, with sociopolitical groups like Afenifere, Ohanaeze, Pan Niger Delta Forum, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, Northern Elders Forum, Arewa Consultative Forum and the Coalition of Northern Groups insisting that it is the only way the country could return to the path of progress. The Presidency had in response to the agitations asked the proponents to approach the National Assembly with their request. Why we can’t punish those behind budget duplication – Budget Office The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr Ben Akabueze, on Friday disagreed with the ICPC, saying only 185 projects were found to be duplicated in the 2021 budget, and not 257 as announced by the commission. He said it was beyond the responsibility of the Budget Office to discipline those responsible for the duplication because the staff of the MDAs who prepare their budgets were not answerable to his office. He however argued that errors were inevitable since the budget was prepared by human beings but that those culpable for the “willful duplication” of projects should be fished out by the ICPC and prosecuted. The ICPC chairman had at the summit said 257 projects amounting to N20.138bn were duplicated in the 2021 budget. Akabueze, who spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise daily’ on Friday, stated that some of the projects identified by the ICPC were not duplicated but had description challenge. He said, “The ICPC came up with a report which they sent to us about duplicated projects in the budget. We did our own review and found that 54 of those projects were actually not duplicated. There were issues with project description, which made them look the same. “Every project in the budget has a unique identifier and for the projects found to be duplicated, funding was withheld. 185 (projects) were found to be duplicated, 54 were not.” Akabueze said there were about 20,000 projects in the budget and that if only about 200 projects were duplicated, it amounts to about 0.01 per cent. He added that the total MDAs’ in the budget estimate was under N4trn, and that the duplicated projects valued at about N20bn was about 0.005 per cent. He added, “Every system has a level of tolerance in terms of error. It is human beings that prepared it, some may be erroneous, some may be willful duplication but the important thing is that there is self-correcting mechanism. The best of systems in the world have audit attached to them because there is an acknowledgement that something can go wrong. We work collectively with the ICPC and it is part of its role as correcting mechanism.” He however said the Budget Office was working towards a zero level of such duplications. He added, “At the level of the Budget Office, what we do is withhold funding for such projects and to that extent, it doesn’t create the sort of problem you alluded to; misuse of state resources.” “As to the discipline of those people, that is outside of our own responsibilities; we look to the day where we have a structure within the budget office where the budget office can deploy its own personnel across the MDAs…to hold them directly accountable. The staff who are involved in preparing this budget in the MDAs are not accountable to the budget office and we have no line of responsibility to question them.” He said the ICPC with its investigative powers should invite the people involved to find out if the duplications were willful actions intended to defraud the government or they were erroneous. PUNCH.

Let Us Reform or Disband NYSC

The National Youths Service Corps, established in 1973, will be 50 years in 2023, when a new government will come into power, Anthony Kila argues that the idea of governing Gen Z with rules and schemes invented in 1973 is simply ridiculous and destined to fail Dear Readers As politicians and the media guide us to and through the maze of possibilities, permutations and speculations around 2023 as a prelude to new a beginning in Nigeria, here is an item for discussion and a proposed agenda for those planning to lead in 2023: Let us radically reform or disband the National Youths Service Corp (NYSC). An aside, if you are over 50 years old today or younger but familiar with the history of Nigeria, I know what you are thinking and I can guess your facial expression seeing Kila writing about NYSC. Yes, I am laughing too so please feel free to enjoy your laughter. The most obvious reason to reform or disband the NYSC is that of safety but that is a mere but crucial topical issue. The security situation in the country has muffled the sense of adventure in potential corps members and transformed the feel and aroma of NYSC into anxiety. Thus arrival of the NYSC call in Nigeria of today makes parents and guardians of young certified learned adults close to being called to join the NYSC pray and fast that their young ones are not sent to volatile areas of the country. To top up their fasting and praying, many Nigerians resolve to looking for who can influence their postings. Can you in knowledge and conscience blame them? The link between their anxiety and acts of nepotism and corruption does not need much explanation. Let us remind ourselves, the NYSC is mandatory one year scheme for graduates who finish their tertiary education under the age of 30 years. A sort of conscription for graduates that was created in 1973 with a military decree as part of efforts to reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild Nigeria after the civil war. Part of its main aim was to be a vehicle that will foster development of common ties amongst the youths of Nigeria and to promote national unity. Decree No. 24 was the establishment decree. Regardless of what you think of the NYSC, I think it is safe to argue that the profile, configuration and mode of operation of the organisation would be rather different if conceived under a democratic process and not as a response to a dramatic situation like war. Military decrees and all forms of executive orders are generally swift but rarely capable of taking account of sensibilities and sustainability. A democratic country should not be guided by decrees and civil society should as much as possible review laws and practices conceived under military and emergency duress. At best, the idea of the NYSC is to give young graduates a chance to discover parts of the country, people and cultures of the country alien to them with the aim of making them more Nigerian. This seems laudable but after a closer look, a question pops up: why is it the business of the government to force young Nigerians to discover other parts of Nigeria? The mindset that conceives such idea is mindset that prioritises identity over functionality. It is a wrong and lazy way of thinking. Nigerians do not mistrust themselves because they do not know each other. Nigerians mistrust themselves because those in power fail to provide enough services and opportunities for all but insist on rationing insufficient services and opportunities through nepotism, tribalism and other forms of favouritism at the detriment of merit. Classroom is the place to learn about people, places and culture. If travel one must, then let the national tourism industry grow. Let state governments focus on making their states attractive to the curious, needy and adventurous. Let the Federal Government make sure that the constitution reign supreme so that any Nigerian can be himself or herself within the provisions of the law in any part of Nigeria. In practice, the NYSC is a very widely used means to substitute for large deficiencies of the country like teaching. It is shockingly amazing how we as a people fail to see the dangerous error in allowing youth corpers to teach in our classrooms instead of insisting on professionally trained teachers who are in the profession because they want to. I have an information for you: It was one thing to know Maths, Economics, Biology or Literature, it is another thing to how to teach it. The fact that we do not consider this simple fact is a grave indictment of our consideration for education and one of the strong reasons why our educational system is failing. Times have changed and a lot has happened since May 1973 when the NYSC was invented. The easiest thing to do is to scrap the scheme. We have two years to think of what to do with it. By 2023 when a new government will come into power and the NYSC will be 50 years old, many of those billed to serve will probably be young adults born in 2000. We are talking generation Z here. The idea of governing Gen Z with rules and schemes invented in 1973 is simply ridiculous and destined to fail. My fellow trained teachers know curriculums are currently being modified to suit Gen Z. There is no point saying they are spoilt, strange or overpampered, they are simply different. Evolution is real, we have the fortune of misfortune of dealing with a new breed of human species born into a digital and highly interconnected world. Everything is optional for them. Coercion is an aberration they don’t get; sanctions and threats are concepts alien and empty to them. They are born to be motivated, incentivised and recognised. The easiest thing to do is to scrap the scheme. We have two years to think of what to do with it. If we do not want to disband the NYSC here is an option: Let us make NYSC optional and specialised. Let it be a full voluntary military service that allows only those who want to join do so for one year and with that they get the option to, depending on their interest and ability, join the armed forces, custom, police and other security services as trained graduates. QUOTE At best, the idea of the NYSC is to give young graduates a chance to discover parts of the country, people and cultures of the country alien to them with the aim of making them moreNYSC Nigerian. This seems laudable but after a closer look, a question pops up: why is it the business of the government to force young Nigerians to discover other parts of Nigeria? The mindset that conceives such idea is mindset that prioritises identity over functionality. It is a wrong and lazy way of thinking *Prof. Kila is Centre Director at CIAPS Lagos.

Buhari, Ramaphosa launch Youth Dialogue for Peace. By: PM NEWS Editor

Ramaphosa and Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday President Muhammadu Buhari and President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday in Abuja launched the Nigeria-South Africa Youth Dialogue for Peace and Security, Youth Development and Political Participation. Speaking to the youths virtually, President Buhari expressed optimism that the establishment of the Youth Dialogue would promote peace-building and development as well as help both countries jointly combat youth restiveness. The Nigerian leader also noted that the Dialogue would afford both countries to strategically develop ”a vast world of collaboration in areas of science and technology,” including climate change, energy demands, green technology, artificial intelligence, cyber security, telematics, agriculture, technology and much more. ”Nigeria and South Africa have a combined population of about 262 million of which 95 million are youth. ”This represents tremendous potential for both countries if we can truly harness this demographic with more dedicated action. ”This sizable youth population may also represent significant problems if we fail to maximize their potential in a world that globalization and technology are reshaping at breakneck speed. ”These are the rationale for proposing this Youth Dialogue. ”Both countries need more educated youth, more skilled youth, more youth in entrepreneurship, more solution providers and peace-keepers and more patriotic youth. ”It is true that our youth already collaborate especially in the creative arts, sharing our rich cultures. ”We will build upon this especially in the framework of the intra- African trade expansion we intend to promote through the African Continental Free Trade Agreement,” he said. The Nigerian leader expressed confidence that collaborations in science and technology and many other areas in a strategic and committed way would provide both countries with solutions and critical intellectual property to unleash economic outcomes for millions of job creations. ”I must urge our youth to see themselves as brothers and sisters with a lot to share and explore together, not as foes. ”Even when Bafana Bafana and the Super Eagles compete, it must be as friendly rivals,’’ President Buhari declared. The President described the inauguration of the Steering Committee on the Youth Dialogue during the Nigeria-South Africa Bi-National Commission as a great leap forward. ”It will aim to jointly combat the restiveness of our youth, exchange ideas/opportunities and reduce friction amongst them,’’ he said. According to the President, the areas of cooperation under the Youth Dialogue would include exchange programmes on notable national, international and historic events; National Youth Service initiatives; sharing of best practices on national youth legislation, policy frameworks and guidelines as well as youth entrepreneurial development and support. Other areas of cooperation, are market development and export marketing for youth; partnership in youth development in the following sectors: mineral resources, environment, forests and woodlands and waste management value chains. From the Agreement establishing the Youth Dialogue, exchange of information on technologies, research and development programmes and experts as well as providing assistance in the areas of accessibility, availability and affordability of mobility aids featured prominently.

FG never put pressure on us to discredit EndSARS panel report - LASG. By: Kazeem Ugbodaga

Lekki Tollgate, scene of alleged massacre of protesters in 2020 The Lagos State Government on Wednesday rubbished insinuations that the Federal Government mounted pressure on it to discredit the report of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry (JPI) on the report of Lekki Tollgate incident. Lagos’ White Paper has denounced claims by the panel that nine people were killed at the Lekki Tollgate by the army and police. However, State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) on Wednesday in an interview on Arise TV denied the allegations that the state government was put under pressure by the Federal Government to discredit the panel’s report. He added that at no time did the State Government encourage personal attacks against any members of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry. He said: “The Federal Government never put the Lagos State Government under any pressure to discredit the panel or anybody. If you check the records, nobody from Lagos State Government discredited the panel. In fact, they submitted the report on the 15th of November 2021, the Governor praised them and thanked them for the job they did. “Even yesterday, in his speech, which he made before the White Paper was released, he thanked them again. So, nobody from the Lagos State Government directly or indirectly has sought to discredit members of the panel. We appreciate the job they did for almost 13 months. We do not condone such attacks on anybody. “I think we have conducted ourselves in such a manner that we strive to always do what is right. We complied with the law; we set up the panel. So, if we didn’t even want the panel, there are so many ways it could have been stopped. They asked for an extension, we gave them. The initial funding was N200million; they exhausted it and asked for more, we gave them. “We appointed independent-minded people into the panel. And the panel itself said in its report that they give credit to the Lagos State Government for allowing them to be completely independent. Lagos State Government has fulfilled all its promises to the public. We set up an independent panel, we said we will release a White Paper and we did. We have complied with the law all the way.” Onigbanjo also justified the State Government’s White Paper on the Judicial Panel of Inquiry (JPI) on the report of Lekki Tollgate incident. He said the State complied with the laws and the weight of evidence presented in the Judicial Panel of Inquiry to reach a decision on panel’s reports. Onigbanjo said the positions of the Lagos State Government as stated in the White Paper was not contrary to the panel’s findings, especially the evidence of the Pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, who said only three of the bodies that he conducted post mortem examination on during the EndSARS protests were from Lekki, and out of them, only one had gunshot injury. Onigbanjo said inconsistencies and contradictions in the leaked reports of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Lekki incidents that nine people died at Lekki Tollgate last year made the panel’s finding in respect to deaths at the tollgate unreliable, saying that for a finding that somebody died at a scene to be acceptable, there must be no doubt. He said: “The position of Lagos State Government is based on the findings of the panel itself. So, it is not that Lagos State Government just conjured things from the air. We went through the report and what we saw particularly in reference to the death of nine persons is that they found the evidence of the Pathologist, Prof. Obafunwa, who conducted an autopsy on all the bodies picked up all over Lagos during the protests, not just at Lekki Tollgate but statewide, credible and there was no evidence to the contrary. “Prof. Obafunwa said that of all the bodies he conducted autopsies on, three came from Lekki and out of the three only one had gunshot injuries. And the panel then said we believe you, we accept your evidence because there is nothing to the contrary. So, in law, if you put that on the imaginary scale, it means what Prof. Obafunwa said outweighs every other evidence before the panel.” Onigbanjo also debunked the allegations that the Judicial Panel of Inquiry made no reference to policemen nor took them into consideration. “They (JPI) issued two reports. The report that leaked only dealt with the issues from the Lekki Toll Gate. There is another report which they issued which was not leaked; that report deals with all the EndSARS petitions that were about 253 in number and of the 253, policemen also brought their own petitions and in that report, the panel awarded a sum of about N36.2million to the policemen who were affected one way or the other by the protests. “So to be fair to them, they did consider the plights of the policemen too. And even if you look at most of their recommendations, they are for better welfare for the police, better equipment, more training, psychological evaluations, so they took them into consideration,” he said. Commenting on a few of the EndSARS activists turning down the requests by Governor Sanwo-Olu for a Peace Walk this month, Onigbanjo said the government will persuade Civil Society members to change their minds. “As regards the issue of some civil society members who have said that they will not participate in the peace walk, of course, the government will seek to persuade them to change their minds, because ultimately we all thrive in peace. There is no government that wants to see a war-torn city, a war-torn State or even a State in which there is so much tension. “So we will continue to talk to members of the civil society. We will continue to demonstrate the government’s good faith. We will continue to demonstrate the government’s sincerity by showing them all the steps that we have taken in the past 13 months before we arrived at where we are now. It is a continuous engagement.”

Omicron lands in US. By: Kazeem Ugbodaga

Anthony Fauci Anthony Fauci confirms Omicron in U.S The first case of Omicron has been identified in California, United States, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci, at a White House briefing on Wednesday said the case was detected in an individual who traveled from South Africa on November 22. He said the person tested positive for the Omicron Covid-19 on November 29. According to him, the person is currently under quarantine and is being closely monitored. He said those who had close contact with him had been tested, but that they were negative. Fauci added that the person was fully vaccinated and that he was currently experiencing mild symptom of the virus.

EU reports 59 Omicron cases in 11 countries By: Nimot Sulaimon

At least 11 EU member states have recorded cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the bloc’s health agency said on Wednesday. There have been 59 cases reported overall, including 16 in the Netherlands, 14 in Portugal and nine in Germany, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). There were also four each in Denmark and Italy, three each in Austria and Sweden, two each in Belgium and Spain and one in the Czech Republic, as well as one on the Indian Ocean Island of Reunion, which is part of France. However, experts are worried that Omicron has spread further than it is reported. Travellers might have been spreading the variant for weeks, said Oliver Keppler, head of the Max von Pettenkoffer Institute, which focuses on infectious diseases at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University. It is not clear whether the ECDC numbers are based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests or genetic sequencing. But it noted that there were other suspected cases across Europe, most connected with travel to southern Africa. So far, none of the cases has involved serious illness or death. NAN

BREAKING: Emirates resumes flight services to Nigeria By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

United Arab Emirates carrier – Emirates – said on Thursday that it will resume its passenger operations between Dubai and Nigeria from December 5, 2021. The airline said it will operate to and from its Nigerian gateways with daily flights, providing travellers from Nigeria convenient access to Dubai – a popular holiday and business destination. The new move, it was learnt, is a sequel to the resolution of its row with Nigeria on suspension of flights. In a statement, the carrier said throughout the pandemic it has been updating passengers with industry-leading health and safety measures at every point of the travel journey as well as helping communities reconnect faster in facilitating economic recovery. The airline said it also been working hard to provide up to date, comprehensive travel information to passengers as well as speeding up processes on the ground through digital verification for Covid-19 via the IATA Travel Pass, as well as touchless check-in and biometrics processing.