Public Officials, Greed is Thy Surname!
“MOST NIGERIAN POLITICIANS, ARE MOTIVATED BY AN UNPRECEDENTED LEVEL OF GREED, LUST FOR EASY MONEY, AND A SENSE/ CULTURE OF ENTITLEMENT TO THE ‘NATIONAL CAKE’, FROM THE TIME THEY ENTER OFFICE, TILL ARMAGEDDON!”
Professor Isaac Adewole’s Designer
By now, most of Nigeria knows that, the ‘agbadas’ (traditional robes) adorned by the Honourable Minister of Health, Professor Adewole, are designed and made by a Medical Doctor. The first time I heard Prof ‘proudly’ share this snippet of information, was at a lecture which I attended last year, hosted by the Pro-Chancellor of University of Lagos. I must say that, I didn’t quite know what to make of the statement, when I heard it. I wasn’t sure whether to consider it as a ‘faux pax’ or gaffe, on the part of Prof, or whether to be intrigued about how a Doctor became more interested in making clothes, after spending so many years slaving through medical school - was sewing really his/her passion? Certainly, there is nothing wrong in being a Clothes Designer, or deciding that the career path you have chosen to follow, is absolutely different from the discipline you took at University (my Clothes Designer, ‘Toju Foyeh’, is a British trained Lawyer with an LLM, who subsequently became a Italian trained Designer), but, because, unlike Toju Foyeh who is a Designer by choice because clothes making is her passion, most of our Nigerian professionals these days, are jobless, and are therefore, constrained to either find alternatives, sometimes extremely demeaning, or starve to death! Or maybe I was concerned that, in a country that fails rather badly, to meet the WHO recommendation of a Doctor to Patient ratio of 1 Doctor to 600 Patients, having a ratio of 1 Doctor to 6,000 Patients, should we be happy that much needed Doctors are making clothes and other things instead? At least, in the case of Lawyers, some people believe that there’s a glut - that too many Lawyers are being churned out, annually.
In Nigeria, you make lots of money in salaries and ‘lagniappes’ (perquisites), with basic secondary school education as a Politician, for example, in the National Assembly, than a Medical Doctor working in a Government Hospital. It just seems somewhat bizarre and inequitable, that a Doctor, who is a life saver on a daily basis, who spends a minimum of five years in University, not adding Housemanship and the years spent specialising, ends up having to work in less than satisfactory, harsh conditions, earning peanuts as salary, while those with basic, incomplete educational qualifications, earn fabulous salaries! And, for doing little or nothing, I might add. It just seems illogical to me. Where is the equity and fairness, that the preamble of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) (the Constitution) guaranteed Nigerian citizens? Even from a basic point of view, it is unjust and warped, for a person to spend so many years and funds acquiring tertiary education, and end up earning so much less, than someone with such low qualifications - and this is now the norm in our society.
Petroleum Industry Bill
Yes, I repeat, earning exorbitantly, for doing little or nothing at the National Assembly. I remember several years ago, I attended an Oil and Gas Summit organised by the House of Representatives (the Summit), when Dimeji Bankole was Speaker. The main topic of discussion, was the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). The PIB was introduced in the 2000s, and over 10 years later, it is yet to be passed into law, whether by the 6th National Assembly, or subsequent ones. Something so crucial, concerning where the majority of Nigeria’s revenue comes from? I remember that part of the thrust of that Summit, was gas flaring – that is, “the burning of natural gas that accompanies crude oil when it is pumped from the ground”. Gas flaring is seriously toxic to the environment, and to the people who are exposed to it. It causes cancer, pneumonia, birth defects and a host of other sicknesses, because of the emission of methane and greenhouse gas, during the process. It has been identified as a cause of global warming, and it also prevents nighttime - there’s always daylight. In short, gas flaring is a killer, not just of the vegetation that is located in close proximity to where the
process occurs, but of people too, namely the Niger Deltans, who live in the vicinity of oil exploration activities.
One would imagine that, passing the law to prohibit this murderous process, to protect the lives of our people in the Niger Delta, would be the priority of any up and doing, right thinking National Assembly. That our people would be seriously studying Norway’s model, of how to eliminate gas flaring. Sadly, several Assemblies later, the PIB remains unpassed, with the much criticised 8th National Assembly, passing some minuscule portion of it. At the time of the Summit, the Oil Majors were paying a pittance of N10 per 1,000 cubic feet of gas flared, as penalty to the Nigerian Government, when as of 2007, the USA Constant price per 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas, was $6.39.
Of course, it is cheaper for the Oil Majors to flare gas, and pay paltry penalties to the Nigerian Government, than to actually store and harness it. So, they are said to be one of the clogs in the wheels of passing the PIB, which has since witnessed many revisions and alterations.
FGR
I guess it is only apt for me, to acknowledge President Buhari’s Government’s initiative – the Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations 2018 (FGR) – “a legal framework to support the policy objectives of the Federal Government for the reduction of Green House Gas emissions through the flaring and venting of natural gas”, in order to protect the environment (and in so doing, protect the lives of the Niger Deltans), and prevent the waste of natural resources. Apparently, Nigeria loses over $1 billion in revenue annually, from gas flaring. One of the key provisions of the FGR, is that it has increased the penalty per 1,000 cubit feet of gas flared, from N10 to $2.0 for companies which produce 10,000 barrels of oil or more, and $0.50 for those who produce less than 10,000 barrels of oil. This is certainly a step in the right direction, though inadequate. The average price of natural gas in USA per 1,000 cubit feet, is $8.87. The Nigerian Government needs to rapidly work towards the eradication of gas flaring and turning it into a lucrative venture, but in the meantime, make gas flaring less attractive, by imposing stiffer penalties on malefactors. The FGR provides for installation of meters to collect flare gas data, and $2.50 per 1,000 cubic feet additional payment for failure to produce accurate flare data.
Of course, since we have numerous obscure and unintelligent people with minimum educational qualifications, who are certainly not the “brightest and the best” running the show, it is not surprising that, they do not understand the import and urgency of these issues, and would rather spend valuable time discussing trivialities, like which clothes the Controller of Customs wears to work!
Bayelsa State
Was it therefore, shocking, that lawmakers in Bayelsa State would seek to secure for themselves, life pensions, after doing little or nothing for four years, fully aware that it is unjust and they certainly do not deserve it, when old Pensioners who have served this country for 35 years, are left to rot and die, without timeous payment of their pensions? No! Most Nigerian Politicians, are motivated by an unprecedented level of greed, lust for easy money, and a sense/culture of entitlement to the ‘national cake’, from the time they enter office, till Armageddon! I doubt whether, even in nearby Ghana, talk less of Singapore, anyone would confidently and publicly conceive and attempt to push such a selfish and useless idea, as the Bayelsan lawmakers have done.
I was unpleasantly surprised, when I was watched a show on Channels TV last Friday, and Honourable Chris Azubogu, the Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, justified an increase in the 2019 budget, to accommodate severance allowances and the like, for the National Assembly members, since it is the end of the 8th Assembly. With their fat, unjustifiable salaries, what do they need a severance pay for? Hon Azubogu said that, that has always been the law. Then change the law! The incredibly outrageous, inflated cost of governance, plays a big role in what is killing this country.
Even the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution, specifically Section 4 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, requires urgent amendment, so that retired public officers like Governors, must either stick to their old pensions or suspend receipt of same, while they are receiving another salary from another public office. It is just so wrong and immoral, for an ex- Governor who has used his offices to secure a fat and juicy pension package via his State House of Assembly, to retire to the Senate (to sleep, mostly), to receive another fabulous, unjustifiable salary, while old Pensioners die in penury, and current workers are not paid a living wage, but a pittance, which they are usually owed for months on end.
Kogi State
Recently, I watched a television programme, where two Politicians from Kogi State, were arguing about how many months salary Kogi State workers, are being owed by the State Government. While the PDP Politician claimed that, workers were being owed 38 months salary, the representative of the Kogi State Governor, one Mr Fanwo, sheepishly claimed that, it was four months salary arrears. When they were then asked why the Governor should seek re-election (given his seemingly purposeless and inefficacious performance), Mr Fanwo answered on a gleeful note, that Governor Yahaya Bello, was the adopted political son of President Muhammadu Buhari! If that is the benchmark for securing political positions, whether or not you perform below par, then I really do not see much light at the end of the tunnel, for Nigeria.
“Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country” - the historic words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States of America, in his inaugural address. What a better place Nigeria would be, if our Politicians were concerned with how to ameliorate the situation in the country, rather than how to milk Nigeria dry!