The oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it was making cuts to its cabinet’s salaries. A statement released by royal decree stated: “The cabinet has decided to stop and cancel some bonuses and financial benefits”. Salaries of the kingdom’s ministers would be reduced by 20%, while bonuses for civil servants would also be reduced. This move seemed necessary as the global fall in oil prices have created a record budget deficit for the gulf nation. Like Saudi Arabia, many other oil-producing nations like Russia, Venezuela, Kuwait have had to adjust, especially by cutting expenses in the tiers of government. Except for Nigeria of course.
On the path of the Nigerian government, there’s been a lackadaisical, half-hearted at best, approach to cutting expenses. President Buhari and his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, announced soon after they came in that they had taken a 50% pay cut themselves. That seems to be the end of that. The government has done nothing, in itself, in terms of cost-effective measures to save money, instead, passing the bulk to the citizenry with the rhetoric of “change begins with me”.
The salary figures for Nigeria’s judiciary and legislature tell similar stories. The pay structure for Nigeria’s judiciary was released last week while the legislature’s salary structure and the budget have been the subject of various debates on transparency and accountability. Shout out to the #OpenNASS group. The judiciary, executive and legislature all receive bloated salaries, allowances, while civil servants in some states have their salaries halved for this same cost-effective measures. Those who would sit to change the wage structures are the people who the move would not favour. Nigeria’s wage discrepancies; the most subtle human rights abuse in Nigeria.
The government’s apathy is summed up by Buhari’s promise to sell some of Nigeria’s presidential jets. At this moment, nothing has come of that promise. Nigerians raised an alarm in the aftermath of the official recession announcement, but were given a vague reply by the president’s media team about “committee already in place, working to reduce the number of aircraft in the presidential fleet”. Compare this with the speedy sale of Malawi’s presidential jet by ex-president Joyce Banda in 2012 and you get the reason why Nigeria is still in its doldrums.
Nigeria is planning on selling some of its national assets, to fund the 2017 budget. This looks like the government is passing the bulk of responsibility to another sector, to further support its unwillingness to make sacrifices itself. This is about deceit, from the government, and the unwillingness of the Nigerian citizenry to hold their leaders to their words. Our leaders don’t feel the urge to deliver on promises and policies because no one holds them to it. Transparency, frugality, anti-corruption and others of its ilk, would just be what they are; rhetoric. There must be a political will. The Nigerian Government is not bothered to have it. And that is very sad.
