El-Rufai’s exemplary leadership on cost of governance

Nasir El-Rufai, the new governor of Kaduna State, is a radical reformer. I first came to that view several years ago after a chance encounter with him. His recent trailblazing decision to cut the cost of governance in his state brought back a memory of that encounter. Let me start with the experience that first shaped my opinion of the governor.

It was in 2003. I had come to Nigeria in November of that year to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Abuja as a consultant to the Commonwealth. I was the rapporteur for the business sessions. A few days before the CHOGM started onDecember 5, however, another event took place in Abuja on November 29. It was the annual Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA). Yemi Akeju, whose company, Ideas Communications, established the NMMA and has run it annually since 1992, invited me to attend the event. The Chief Host was Nasir El-Rufai as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). El-Rufai held a reception for the participants at his official residence in Abuja. So, I joined media veterans like Alade Odunewu to enjoy the hospitality of the minister!

What struck me most that evening was the strong impression El-Rufai made on everyone present. He came across as a brilliant, dynamic and radical reformer. He spoke about his vision for the FCT: to restore Abuja to its original master-plan (distorted by successive military governments). He vowed to step on powerful toes, if necessary, to achieve this objective. And he did. I think there is some consensus that he transformed Abuja while he was in charge. El-Rufai has always struck me as someone who understands the ethos and purpose of governance: to exercise power for the general good.

And now he is showing early signs of a reformist governor, an action man! Consider his first actions as governor since May 29. He and his deputy took a 50 percent (yes, 50 percent!) reduction in their salaries and allowances. He reduced the number of ministries from 19 to 13, and cut the number of aides for his commissioners. He also withdrew some of the largesse enjoyed at the state’s expense by powerful groups, including the emirs. The triggers for these radical measures were, of course, the unacceptably high governance costs in Kaduna State. The state spends 80 percent of its total revenue on the salaries and allowances of public servants. This is obviously a serious threat to governance, and El-Rufai understands that. As he put it: “Can we as elected leaders deliver any significant service or implement progressive actions or attain desirable outcomes for the majority of our people if we devote only 20 percent of available resources to their needs?”

But the high cost of governance is a national problem. Nigeria is spending 70 percent of its revenue on 20 percent of its citizens who are public servants. Recurrent expenditure is still over 80 percent of the federal budget, which means that the country is spending a lot more to maintain its governments than it does to improve the lives of its people and invest in critical infrastructures. And we know the sources of this profligacy.

Take the National Assembly. Its annual budget is between N120 and 150 billion. According to recent media reports, the federal legislators would collectively receive a total sum of N9 billion for so-called wardrobe allowance and a separate sum of about N20 billion for housing, furniture and vehicle allowances. These are in addition to their basic salaries, which also aggregate to several billions of naira. Even so, there is still a lot of secrecy about what the lawmakers actually receive in total when the hidden perks are considered. But The Economist magazine has estimated that Nigeria’s federal legislators are the highest paid in the world!

Obviously, this raises the question: Why should Nigeria, with a GDP of $521 billion and per capital income of a meagre $3,005, pay its legislators more than, or even anything near, what the US, which has a GDP of $16.7 trillion and per capital income of $53,042, or even the UK, with a GDP of $2.6 trillion and per capital income of $41,781, pay theirs? Even the UK has cut back drastically on all the hidden perks of its Members of Parliament, including scrapping their generous final-salary pension scheme, and abolishing claims for ‘hospitality’ and taxis home from Westminster (MPs don’t have official cars)! Surely, in a country where the minimum wage is just N18,000 per month, where the unemployment rate is over 40 percent and where, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, over 100 million Nigerians live below the poverty line, it’s unconscionable for public office holders to receive such excessive remunerations.

Yet huge salaries are only part of the problem. A more serious structural problem is the enormous size of the state, characterised by the bloated bureaucracies across the country. For instance, the federal government is a behemoth, consisting of an expensive presidency, a large executive cabinet and several ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), many of them having overlapping functions. Then, there are 36 state governments, each with several ministries and parastatals, some created just to give jobs to politicians! Yet many of the states are technically bankrupt and unable to pay workers’ salaries. Few of them can survive without federal allocations.

That’s why Nasir El-Rufai’s actions are significant for their positive demonstration effect. Since he announced his downsizing decisions, several other state governors, such as those of Lagos, Osun and Kano, have taken similar measures. It was even rumoured, but later denied, that President Buhari would sell off 9 presidential aircrafts. He should. The media also reported that Buhari would reduce the number of federal ministries from 42 to 19, and scrap about 50 agencies. Such measures would go some way to reduce the cost of governance. But more is needed. All political and public office holders should take at least a 30 percent pay cut. El-Rufai has demonstrated this. Others should emulate his selfless leadership!

 

Olu Fasan