President Goodluck Jonathan, and other officials of his administration, as well as governors and heads of the National Assembly are not letting off any of their conveniences as Nigeria battles dwindling revenues, retaining extra-large convoys and travel teams, and flying private jets and first class with public money while the same government says the nation must accept cutbacks to counter the oil crisis.
While the president and the governors have retained their long motorcades, the senate president, David Mark, and House of Representatives speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, are doing just the same.
Official convoys of the president averages 40 cars, those of the governors exceed 20. Mr. Mark’s convoy as of this week remained at least 12.
Governors travelling around the country mainly for their political needs continue to use private jets, maintained and fuelled at huge cost to public purse.
Only a few governors use public airplanes when travelling. An example is the Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke. Former Anambra governor, Peter Obi, also did.
Rolling back official conveniences, no matter how little, are usually some of the first steps for nations battling economic downturns. Reduction in official vehicles could help save fuel and maintenance cost.
Nigeria is one of the countries worst hit by the dwindling oil price which currently hovers around $78 per barrel.
With no reprieve, President Goodluck Jonathan last week asked the National Assembly to lower Nigeria’s oil price benchmark from $78 per barrel to $73, to cushion further shocks at the international market, and to grow the Excess Crude savings which the government has turned to in recent months, to help pay workers’ salaries.
Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the government is planning higher taxes on high taste products such as champagne, and top range automobiles, to compel the rich to pay more to help the government deal with the situation.
She said the government will significantly minimize foreign travels, and purchase of new equipment in the 2015 budget.
The proposals remain to be seen.
On Tuesday, the Central Bank Nigeria, CBN, announced Nigeria’s toughest response yet, devaluing the nation’s currency against the dollar by 13 naira.
CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the oil shift appears permanent, and warned that the proposed $73 benchmark may be too optimistic. He called for cuts on government habits.
The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, civil society and economists, say the government is not showing sufficient seriousness in responding to the crisis.
For a start, they argued, the government must confront corruption headlong, reduce administrative costs, and harness internally generated revenues from government agencies.
“Raising taxes on luxury items is long overdue,” the general secretary of the NLC, Peter Ozo-Ezon, told Premium Times. “There has always been the need to tax the very rich in the country. The exclusive items they consume must be targeted.
“Private jets acquired by some individuals should attract huge taxes,” he said.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, said instead of imposing unnecessary austerity measures on Nigerians, the government at all levels should prune the numbers of their political aides.
“The governors, ministers and federal and state legislators should also be made to reduce their aides to a sizeable number that our economy can bear and whatever is gotten from this exercise should be used in supporting and bolstering the economy,” the union’s chairman, Francis Johnson, said in a release last week.
Source: Premium Times
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