Accountant General’s London workshop

IT is becoming increasingly clear that the government either does not know what has to be done to rein in the enormous economic challenges besetting the country or is not interested in taking those steps that could restore the economy to a stable condition.  It is difficult to justify the government’s approval of an overseas workshop for public officials at a time when nearly all critical macroeconomic fundamentals are in the negative. There is rising inflation, heightening unemployment/underemployment and massive depreciation of the naira, all of which have combined to occasion unprecedented and pervasive hunger and misery in the land, yet the government is busy incurring frivolous expenses. How can any agency of government at any level contemplate embarking on a jamboree in Europe at a trying time like this, with such terrible proposal approved by senior government officials?  The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) reportedly organised a workshop for some officials in the office and the  Commissioners for  Finance in the 36 states of the federation in London. Claiming to be cutting down on the cost of governance, the Federal Government approved an overseas workshop in the United Kingdom! This is really distressing.

There is nothing extraordinary about the event with the theme “Public Financial Management and IPSAS Workshop for State Commissioners of Finance and Officials of OAGF” to warrant its being held outside the shores of Nigeria. If anything, this insensitive action shows the level of detachment of government and its officials from the parlous economic condition of the generality of Nigerians. The average Nigerian is currently agonising over the hardship foisted on them by past administrations, yet the current government which promised to correct the anomaly is fast assuming the role of a spendthrift. For instance, according to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), commissioners are entitled to $600 estacode for each night spent on a foreign trip. If the 36 commissioners of finance were present at the event for at least five days, it means a total of $108,000, which is equivalent to N162,000,000 (at the rate of N1500 per dollar), was spent on estacode.  This is apart from other expenses like the cost of flights; other expenses for the commissioners and estacodes for officials of the OAGF. This type of wastage of public resources borders on wickedness at a time when government is calling on  Nigerians to make personal sacrifices to tide them over the current economic hardship with a promise that the situation will soon normalise. It certainly does not seem that the government is genuinely interested in restoring the dignity of its citizens by rescuing them from the degrading privations that make many to go without food or eat less than a good meal per day.  Otherwise, profligacy would not be the order of the day in official circles.

Almost a third of this year’s budget will be devoted to servicing loan obligations. The remaining two-thirds is divided roughly into two halves between recurrent and capital expenditure. The reality is that both the loan servicing obligations and recurrent expenditure will take priority, leaving very little for capital expenditure which is the fulcrum of physical and economic progress. And worse still, this is happening in a clime where for the past few years, the total accruing revenue to the government’s coffers was almost always cancelled out by the cost of loan servicing. We undertook the foregoing analysis to underscore the fact that the parlous state of the economy actually  recommends prudence, not profligacy.  For instance, given the structure of the country’s budget and its funding sources, the avoidable wastage represented by the escalating cost of governance is in all probability being funded with debt capital rather than earned income! That bitter truth ought to have disturbed the government when its legislative branch was buying operational vehicles worth N160  million each for 469 legislators, but it is even approving routine workshops for its officials in foreign jurisdictions!

And to explain away the egregious misstep by the  OAGF,  Bawa Mokwa, the director of press at his office, confirmed that the workshop was held in the UK and claimed that it is an annual event organised by the OAGF and not a one-time meeting. In other words, by the publicist’s warped logic, since it is an annual event, it must be held willy-nilly in London even if the situation and circumstances means that the country cannot afford it, especially in the face of viable and cheaper alternative methods and venues. Also, Mokwa tried to rationalise the incongruous choice on the ground that it is the residency of the facilitators who ensure the implementation of the workshop’s objectives meticulously. That is rather preposterous in a digital era when the same workshop could be attended virtually from anywhere in the world if the OAGF was genuinely interested in avoiding waste.  In any case, what has been the benefit of the workshop since it started taking place? Is the  country not currently in dire straits despite the annual workshops in London? Do public officials even understand the imperative of belt-tightening in a period of lean resources? Why does it seem difficult for them to understand that one way to stay afloat is to reduce expenses when revenue constitutes a challenge?  Or is it that the government couldn’t care a hoot about incurring frivolous and needless expenses, even if that could compound the country’s economic woes and discourage citizens who are groaning under the personal sacrifices they have been called upon to make?

All arms of government at different tiers must realise that the economy is tottering and that past extravagance and recklessness in the deployment of public resources can no longer be accommodated, or there will be worse poverty and misery in the land. The economy is almost grounded with massive hunger in the land and with workers and pensioners in pain, yet the government keeps asking Nigerians to make sacrifices when there is no sign of frugality on its part. That is tantamount to official hypocrisy,  insensitivity and a show of utter contempt for struggling Nigerians.  It is in the enlightened self-interest of the government to stop taking the citizenry’s  patience and their seeming tolerance of socioeconomic hardship for granted. We warn that a day of reckoning will come when public officials who initiate proposals that culminate in bad decisions and actions in the line of duty will pay for their betrayal of trust and insensitivity even when they have their superiors’ approvals for such official actions.  The resort to reckless and insensitive behaviour epitomised by the intolerably high cost of governance must be reined in in the interest of all.

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