Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the February 25 election, Barr Adewole Adebayo, has advised President Bola Tinubu to look into the cost of governance and the value a minister brings into government.
According to him, Nigeria needs to cut down corruption to sail through its multifaceted challenges.
He said, “We have to look at the average cost of a minister and government and the value the minister brings into the government. Theoretically, it is good to cut down the cost of government, but in the case of Nigeria, what you need to cut down is corruption.
“Even if the country has 37 ministers, what would happen when they become contractors and siphon public funds? If you have National Assembly members establishing companies and going to the NDDC and MDAs to pursue contracts, they are supervising and padding the budget.”
Speaking on the over-bloated agencies and parastatals, he said, “That is what I called the establishment cost, which I have now upgraded to the establishment curse. It’s a mistake we make all the time.
“When they discovered there is malaria in a particular River Basin Authority somewhere and they want to tackle that malaria, they create Malaria Control Agency instead of creating a unit within that River Basin Authority to do that temporary project and move on. They create these offices and have everlasting life.”
He continued; “It will be kept in the office of the Secretary to Federal Government, SGF and anytime somebody fails an election somewhere or drop from ministerial list, you go and put them in these agencies and the agencies start creating their own establishment, the DG, CEO and other directors, then there would pension fund and obligation, then they look for building somewhere and so it continues like that, yet, you don’t see the impact of what they are doing. Those are the things they need to cut down.”